Latest news with #SherryGott
Winnipeg Free Press
30-05-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Advocate calls for strategy to address sexual exploitation of youth
Four out of 10 serious injuries reported to Manitoba's youth advocate involve the sexual assault of a young person who is in the care of government services. 'Kids can't keep waiting,' Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth Sherry Gott said after releasing a first-of-its-kind report on Thursday. 'Throwing money here and there every once in a while is not the solution. (Government officials) need to develop a strategy to address mental health and to address sexual exploitation.' MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth, Sherry Gott: 'Throwing money here and there every once in a while is not the solution.' Gott's office has published a 78-page review of serious incidents that are, by the province's definition, life-threatening, require admission to a health-care facility or the result of sexual assault. The advocate has done a deep-dive into 140 cases referred to her office from July 1, 2023 to Dec. 31, 2024. The deep-dive is part of new investigative program to raise awareness about incidents, hold service-providers accountable, and inform government funding and programs. Child and family service agencies, hospitals and the department of justice, among others, are required by legislation to refer incidents to her office. In total, 233 serious injuries were referred for review during the inaugural 18-month reporting period. To date, Gott has reviewed 140 of them — 94 per cent of which involve children involved in child and family services. Her early findings show 91 per cent of individuals who sustained serious injuries were Indigenous — what she called 'a terrible inequity' that reflects historical and ongoing injustices that are linked to colonialism. Girls and young women accounted for 60 per cent of all cases during that 18-month period. The injured individual was between the ages of 15 and 17 in more than half of the reports. The most common injury was sexual assault, followed by weapon-inflicted assault and suicide attempts, accounting for 41 per cent, 18 per cent and 14 per cent of respective cases. The advocate called the initial data 'the tip of the iceberg,' owing to underreporting that she hopes will improve in response to her report. Ten per cent of the 140 serious injuries were caused by a physical assault by another person. Overdoses and accidental incidents each represented six per cent of them. Three per cent were self-harm incidents. Severe neglect made up two per cent of cases. 'Serious injuries impacting young people are regrettably not new phenomena,' Gott wrote in her report, 'Natawihisowin Oci Maskikiya (Healing with Medicines): Findings from the First 18-Months of the Serious Injury Reviews and Investigations Program.' 'However, the legislated responsibility to aggregate and disseminate findings related to these horrific incidents is.' She told the Free Press her office wants to see 'a responsible mechanism' put in place for children who are being seriously injured. Tuesdays A weekly look at politics close to home and around the world. The report indicates many of the injured children had a range of challenges, such as substance abuse, school absenteeism and poor mental health. Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said the report contains 'important data' and thanked the advocate for her work. 'We take these issues very, very seriously… We're engaging in a revisioning of Tracia's Trust,' Fontaine told reporters on Thursday, noting it is the 20th anniversary of that provincial initiative to combat sexual exploitation. The strategy was rolled out in 2002. It was renamed in memory of Tracia Owen, a teenager who was sexually exploited and died by suicide in 2005. Maggie MacintoshEducation reporter Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., she first reported for the Free Press in 2017. Read more about Maggie. Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative. Every piece of reporting Maggie produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
CBC
29-05-2025
- Health
- CBC
Hundreds of serious injuries reported involving kids in care 'tip of the iceberg': Manitoba youth advocate
Social Sharing WARNING: This article contains discussion of sexual abuse and self-harm. Hundreds of children in the care of Manitoba government services were seriously injured over an 18-month period — including dozens of instances of sexual assault — according to a newly released report by the province's advocate for children and youth. Children's advocate Sherry Gott says those numbers are likely "only the tip of the iceberg," because of underreporting in the system. "Serious injuries impacting young people are regrettably not a new phenomenon," Gott said at a Thursday press conference announcing the findings of her office's serious injury reviews and investigation program. "However, the legislative responsibility to aggregate and disseminate findings related to these horrific incidents is." The 78-page report is the first time the Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth has publicly released comprehensive information on the number and cause of serious injuries related to children in care. Provincial legislation came into effect in 2023 that requires serious injuries to any youth receiving reviewable services to be reported to the advocate. That would include injuries to youth in the care of Child and Family Services and youth receiving mental health, addiction or justice services. Creating a serious injury reviews and investigations program for the advocate was one of the recommendations made in the inquiry into the death of Phoenix Sinclair, a five-year-old girl who had spent time in foster care before she was abused and killed by her mother and stepfather in 2005. The program gives the advocate the ability to identify issues and gaps in the system, Gott said Thursday. "Serious injury reviews are a new and unique opportunity in Manitoba to ensure children's rights are protected," she said. Numbers 'an incomplete representation' The advocate was notified of 367 serious injuries during the first 18 months of the program's inception, according to the report released Thursday. More than half of those notifications — 218 — came from Child and Family Services authorities. A serious injury is defined as anything that is life-threatening, requires admission to the hospital and is expected to cause serious long-term impairment, or is the result of a sexual assault. But confusion over what constitutes a serious injury, a lack of motivation to report and insufficient staff training are some of the barriers that make the advocate believe serious injuries are going unreported, said the report. "These numbers should be viewed as an incomplete representation of serious injuries sustained by young people," the report said. Some organizations did not submit a single referral during the reporting period, it noted. Over 220 of the reported injuries met the criteria to be reviewed by the advocate, and 140 of those assessments were completed in time for the report. Of those, close to half — 58 — were the result of a sexual assault. Another 25 injuries were from a weapon (21 of which were stabbings), 19 were suicide attempts and 14 involved assaults. There were also nine accidental injuries, eight that were the result of an overdose, four that involved self-harm and three that were from severe neglect. In total, 94 per cent of the injuries were connected with a youth in CFS care, and 91 per cent involved a youth of Indigenous ancestry. The majority of sexual assault victims were cisgender females, one-third of whom had a neurodevelopment disability or a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, the report said. More than 20 of the sexual assaults involved young people between the ages of 11 and 17 who were sexually exploited, sometimes by multiple different people. The report said that figure only scratches the surface of the "real degree of sexual exploitation occurring across Manitoba." Two of the youth were sexually assaulted by a person they were placed with by CFS, "serving as a horrific indication that some youth are being harmed by those entrusted by the province to care for them," the report stated. Gott said the province's response to sexual assault is "outdated," and prevention — through legislation or programming — must be a priority. The advocate's office found there were not enough resources to protect youth from sexual exploitation, and there was not enough emphasis on preventing them from being exploited in the first place. Finding missing youth who are experiencing exploitation also needs to be prioritized, the report said. Systemic issues The 19 suicide attempts revealed problems with the province's current mental health system, the report said, noting lengthy wait lists for treatment, and a lack of mental health and addictions services in rural and remote communities. The report identified other systemic issues for government organizations to address, including: The need for specialized placements to support youth with complex needs. A lack of involuntary treatment options for young people at serious risk of harm. A shortage of services for youth who are being sexually exploited. Overall resource scarcity for youth experiencing both mental health and harmful substance-use challenges. The hope is that the report will encourage more government bodies to report serious injuries so gaps can be identified and more can be done to prevent the injuries, its conclusion states. If you or someone you know is struggling, here's where to look for help:
