'They should've given me a chance': Mother, chiefs call for child welfare reform after infant death

The mother of a baby who died in foster care says she should have been given a chance to care for her child, a cry echoed by Manitoba chiefs demanding revolutionary change to the child welfare system.

"I asked them if they could just give me a chance I said 'It's my first baby' but they wouldn't," said Daralyn Green, 21.

Green's baby,Vanatasia Unique Emerald Green, was apprehended shortly after birth in November and placed in a Winnipeg foster home run by a for-profit agency, B & L Resources for Children and Youth.

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Over the next few months, Green and her partnerReggie Green, 31, travelled from their home on Bloodvein First Nation, about 215 kilometres north of Winnipeg, for supervised visits with their daughter every two weeks.

ButVanatasia died in the foster home on March 18, three days after a five-day visit with her parents in Bloodvein.

Vanatasia was born at St. Boniface Hospital on Nov. 6, full-term and weighing seven pounds, 10 ounces. She spent two days recovering in hospital from jaundice, and Daralyn looked forward to taking her home.

She'd been in Winnipeg for two weeks prior to her daughter's birth to rest in a hotel because she had gestational diabetes. Two cousins from Bloodvein First Nation were with her to provide support and planned to travel back with her and the baby after the birth. She never expected that wouldn't happen.

"I shared with a nurse I drank a couple times during my pregnancy, but not throughout," said Green, adding she wanted to be honest. She had spent a year herself in the CFS system as a child, and she and Reggie didn't have a house of their own. She'd also missed some prenatal appointments in Winnipeg. She said hospital staff asked if the baby could go with someone else in her family, and she suggestedher cousins.

The next day, a social worker told her Vanatasia would be apprehended into care.

"I just broke down and asked them if they could give me a chance. And I guess they wouldn't," she said.

The following day, she said nurses took her daughter from her, telling her Vanatasia would go to the nursery and a social workerwould take her to a foster home from there. They told Daralyn she was discharged from hospital.

"I didn't get to like, see the social workers or at least talk to them, like where is she going to be placed or anything like that, they weren't there when the nurses came and like, took her from me," said Green, tears rolling down her cheeks.

She cried the entire trip home.

Cause of death unclear

Four months later, just days after their last visit, two CFS workerscame to Daralyn's mother's house to deliver the news: Vanatasia had died.

"I was just like, 'No.' Burst out crying. Went and told my mom. She was sleeping. And I went and told her, she got up right away and she started getting mad at the CFS, telling them that they should've just gave me a chance."

CFS workers originally told Daralyn it appeared the child had choked on formula or vomit, but on Wednesday, the medical examiner told Daralyn's mother Vera Green that the baby's lungs were clear.

We won't know until three months time how she really passed. But the medical examiner said that she was healthy, her lungs were good, everything was good with her. So I don't know what happened.- Daralyn Green

A spokesperson for the province said it's not mandatory for foster parents in Manitoba to have infant CPR and safe sleep technique training.

When the supervised visits in Bloodvein First Nationbegan, the entire family saw a change in Daralyn and Reggie.

"CFS didn't see it, but we saw it," said Glen Kennedy, Reggie Green's father.

"That baby brought the whole family together." he said."They should've given them that chance to be parents. She would still be here today. I know they would not leave her alone. That's how much love I seen in them, holding baby."

Kennedy said his son has a criminal past like he does, but when he moved back to the community from Winnipeg and after the birth of his daughter, for the first time, family became his priority. Both of them are now sober, he said.

"I just feel like they're judging from our past," said Kimberly Constant, Reggie's step-mother.

The young couple had secured a stable living situation in Reggie's mother's house and Daralyn had gone to some treatment classes. She said she stopped drinking in December.

"I was changing my ways. I stopped drinking because I wanted her to come home. And I was doing good. Because they told us on our last visit on [March 15] that we would be getting her back soon," she said.

"She didn't even come home. She came home all right, but she came home in a casket. And CFS put her there. That's how I feel," said Constant, before breaking down.

Chiefs condemn apprehensions

Bloodvein First Nation Chief Roland Hamilton is among a growing number of First Nation leaders calling for an overhaul of the CFS system.

"It's very sad to have, still today, to have our kids taken away. Especially as a newborn, for a mother to lose a baby like that, first to Child and Family and then to a death. Makes it very sad," said Hamilton.

He said he and his council will meet with Southeast CFS to learn more aboutwhat happened, buthe believes Vanatasiashould have been placed with extended family until herparents were ready.

"You've got two grandparents. One from the father's side, one from the mother's side, and they could've looked after the baby. With the help. That's what the CFS should've looked at. Is helping the grandmothers to look after the child."

In his community of about 1,700 people, 1,100 of whom live on reserve, about 300 children are in the care of CFS, he said.

"We don't know where half of them are," he said.

"We've been trying to get the legislation changed regarding CFS to try and keep the kids in the community as much as we can, and I think intervention would be the thing, intervention and prevention to keep the kids within their communities. So that they may be raised here, with family, then they don't get placed anywhere where they lose their identity."

"The long-term effects of a child being taken away from families, I think it harms, harms it more as they grow up."

Poverty, alcohol abuse, drugs, a housing shortage, overcrowding and crime are all issues in his community, he said, but shouldn't necessitate the removal of children.

"There's a lot of family members that can look after a child. It's all about money I think. Kids get taken away, they[CFS] get funded, a lot of jobs are created because of our kids are taken away." He said CFS could provide the funding to the extended family instead of foster care homes.

He said CFS requires parents to have stable housing, but in Bloodvein,the demand far outweighs the supply of houses many of which are decades old and falling apart. Although seven homes were recently builtunder a provincial program and went to young families and people with medical needs, 70-80more are needed, he said.

"We don't have an empty house. With these young families that want to start their own families, they've got no place to go."

Last week, Daralyn and Reggie Green spoke abouttheir daughter's death withthe Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Women's Council, made up of female chiefs in Manitoba.

"Do we really have to lose our children to these homes provided by the province?" said War LakeChief Betsy Kennedy.

They're calling for systemic change to Manitoba's CFS system and decried the province's ability to safely care for Indigenous children.

"Why are we going to allow it? We, as the Women's Council will not do so. We will do whatever we can to help families. From stopping to losing their children."

Hamilton said he stands with them.

"It's happening, what's happened 60 years ago. Back in the'60s. Still happening. Kids get taken away. And they get lost," he said.

CFSresponse

The province is waiting forthe medical examiner's report to determine thecause of death, and they continue to work on getting the answers the family needs, according to a spokesperson.

Privacy concerns mean the province can not comment directly on the Greens' situation.

"The removal of a child is never done lightly," the spokesperson said in a statement.

"Manitoba is in the midst of a child welfare reform and formed a committee to examine current CFS legislation."

Instead of apprehension, the spokesperson noted a CFSagency can issue something called a place of safetylicence.It's more flexible than a foster placement and is done by the agency to identify family members or friends who can help raise a child.

Other changes under consideration include customary care, doulas, flexible block funding and a legislative review, the spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for Southern First Nations Network of Care said best practice should be for CFS agencies to seek placements within the extended family and community.

"Sometimes identified family members have their own struggles, which necessitates that agency to keep exploring options provided by the family, or other placements if those other options cannot be safely supported," said Southern Network of Care spokespersonJim Compton in an emailed statement.

CBC'srepeated requests to B & L Resources have gone unanswered.

'Trying to think positive'

DaralynGreen believes her daughter would still be alive if she'd been in the care of family, because she and her partner never left Vanatasia unattended. She's speaking out publicly to demand CFSprovide supports to at-risk mothers, rather than apprehending at birth.

"Give the mothers a chance to bond with the baby, and bring up the baby and parent the baby," she said.

The Greens held a funeral for their daughter at Bloodvein's band hall, the only building large enough to accommodate everyone, on Monday. The casket was adorned with flowers and wreaths, which now cover her burial site. Vanatasia was laid to rest behind Reggie's mother's house, the home they planned to raise her in.

"We won't know until three months time how she really passed. But the medical examiner said that she was healthy, her lungs were good, everything was good with her. So I don't know what happened," said Green.

"I'm just trying to think positive. Not trying to think negative or anything."

It's difficult for them to speak of the child they lost. They think of her constantly.

"She looked beautiful. Peaceful. It was hard seeing her like that. But I kind of get comfort that she's not the only baby that died. That there are other babies. And she's in heaven with them, watching over us," said Green.

She and Reggie are expecting their second child. She hasn't told the public health nurse yet, terrified of losing another child to CFS, but is determined it will never happen again.

"They could've just given me a chance."