As early as 2002, front-line child welfare workers repeatedly wrote letters to government, warning that those providing service were struggling, leaving vulnerable children at greater risk.
The letters (see below), which have been submitted as evidence to the Inquiry, identify top-down systemic change, overwhelmingly high caseloads and increasingly severe family breakdown as critical concerns for front-line workers.
One of the letters is dated December 19, 2002, while the others were sent in 2005. All three speak to issues such as difficulty recruiting and retaining trained staff, a top-down approach to change, and the danger of such high caseloads to vulnerable Manitoba families and children.
December 2002 letter to government