Crushing All Hope: Trying to Be a Foster Parent for Manitoba Child and Family Services

Telling the other side of the adoption and fostering process in Manitoba perhaps inevitably ends up questioning the failures of the government child care system. In this study, I itemize the difficulties dealing with the foster care system that ultimately led to my unsuccessful attempt to become a Manitoba foster parent.
Like the impoverished child in the candy store window, both systemic and personal barriers prevented me from becoming a parent. Although I began this journey innocently enough by applying for both adoption services and foster parenthood, I was soon confronted by a deep-seated prejudice against single men as fathers, a strange subtle ignorance masquerading as professionalism, and ultimately what I interpreted to be a profound conservatism and institutional mendacity.
This book ended up being unusually well documented, for I thought I would be writing about a developing bond between a parent and a child. Instead, I ended up with a five-year record of governmental bungling and CFS’ transparent attempts to undermine my efforts.