Jackman-Atkinson: Legacy of an invisible girl

Share

By: Kate Jackman-Atkinson

myWestman.ca

Last Friday, the provincial government released commissioner Ted Hughes’ report following the Phoenix Sinclair Inquiry. The report included 62 recommendations and a chastising of the child welfare system.

The 900-page document was based on 91 days of testimony from 126 witnesses. The inquiry cost $14 million and was the last chapter in a sad story that began over a decade ago.

On April 23, 2000, Sinclair was born and on June 11, 2005, she was killed by her mother, Samantha Kematch, and stepfather, Karl Wesley McKay. She was buried in a shallow grave at the Fisher River dump and her body wasn’t found until March 18, 2006. Kematch and McKay were tried and both were convicted of first-degree murder. They were sentenced to life in prison without parole for at least 25 years.

Had one of McKay’s sons, who was living in the home at the time of the murder, not told someone about Sinclair’s death, who knows if her death would have ever been discovered.

Sinclair’s life and death came to symbolize the problems within the child welfare system in Manitoba. Sinclair’s contact with Child and Family Services began the day she was born.

The great tragedy of Phoenix Sinclair isn’t that she died; it’s that she was killed by her parents following a long involvement with CFS, which had numerous opportunities and six very clear chances to save the girl, but none of them were acted upon.

Large caseloads, changing staff, underfunding and a lack of trust between clients and caseworkers were all challenges frequently raised by CFS witnesses during the inquiry. While Hughes made 62 recommendations in his report, one line stands out: “Deficiencies in the delivery of services to Phoenix did not result from a lack of understanding of policies, procedures and provincial standards, or from confusion about which standards applied. Rather they resulted from a lack of compliance with existing policies and best practice.”

If the policies in place had been followed, Sinclair likely would still be alive today.

Being a social worker isn’t an easy job; they are working with people at some of the worst moments of their lives.  In many cases, they are working in dangerous neighbourhoods and sometimes with people like McKay who have a history of violence.

But it was more than just the challenges of the job that led to Sinclair’s death and it was more than just one missed opportunity that could have prevented her death.

One of the biggest mistakes multiple social workers made was failing to actually lay eyes on Sinclair after tips of abuse and mistreatment.

In March 2005, CFS workers received a tip that Sinclair was being abused and locked in a room.  This was the 13th tip CFS had received in the young girl’s life. On March 9, a CFS worker went to Kematch’s house but was refused entry. The worker didn’t insist on seeing the girl and the file was ultimately closed without anyone seeing her. On May 11, someone claiming to be Sinclair’s aunt called CFS concerned about the girl’s well-being.  A file was opened but the initial assessment was that there was no immediate risk. A month later, Sinclair was murdered.

While some of the workers involved in Sinclair’s case have left the industry, no one will lose their job because they didn’t follow the rules or procedures in place. In the wake of a release, family services minister Kerri Irvin-Ross was asked repeatedly whether any social workers were disciplined after Sinclair’s death, or whether any would be if they failed to follow proper procedures in the future.

“I can only tell you that we’re going to reinforce the importance of following procedures (in) protecting children,” was all she said.

The reports and the recommendation will help children in the future and hopefully improve the outcomes of children in care, but none of these needed to have been in place to protect Sinclair.

A girl who was invisible in life will have a lasting impact on the future of child welfare in the province, but that needn’t have been the case.