No children to be placed at B & L foster homes pending provincial investigation

No additional children will be placed with a Manitoba for-profitfoster-care agencywhile the province investigates allegations of sexual abuse at a foster home.

Families Minister Heather Stephensonordered a review of B & L Resources for Children and Youth on Saturday, following a CBC investigation that revealed children were left in the same home as a minor who was sexually abusing them.

The provincial reviewis being led by deputy minister of FamiliesJay Rodgers.

• Province orders probe into foster agency following CBC investigation on handling of sex abuse

The"review is proceeding on an expedited basis," a provincial spokesperson said Monday. "We have placed a moratorium on new placements with B & L at this time during our review."

During question period at the Manitoba Legislature on Monday, NDPOpposition Leader Wab Kinew and NDP MLA Bernadette Smith asked the Progressive Conservative government multiple times when the government learned of the allegations.

Neither former Families minister Scott Fielding (now finance minister) nor Sport, Culture and Heritage Minister Cathy Cox answered that question. Premier Brian Pallister and current Families MinisterHeather Stefansonwere both away from question period at other engagements.

"When all information came, further information came to us, we took immediate action as a government to call a review," Fielding said.

Kinew and Smith both suggested the government may have known about the incidents prior to the allegations becoming public.

"Manitobans need answers. This family need answers," Smith said.

'We dragged our heels big time': secret recording

The allegations emerged in 2016. In a 2017 recording,"We dragged our heels big time," the director of foster care services for B & L Resources for Children, Youth and Families was heard saying.

In 2016,there were 275 children in B & L foster homes, according to information obtained byCBCNews. More than a dozen agencies sent children in care to B & L foster homes at that time, including WinnipegCFS, West RegionCFS,MetisCFSand DakotaOjibwayCFS.

The biological parent of the children who were victimized would like to see the review extend to the Metis Child, Family and Community Services Agency, the children's legal guardian. The parent says theytold Metis CFS about abuse allegations months before B & L got involved.

In an statement emailed to CBC News last week,Bruce Bertrand-Meadows, managing director of B & L, said: "The safety and well-being of children entrusted to our care has always been and remains B & L's primary focus."