'We're missing kids,' children's advocate says after flooding forces office to move

Manitoba's children advocate is worriedvulnerable children are being left behind because her office'smain headquarters has been closed for months by flooding.

"I knowevery day that we're not there, we're missing kids," said Daphne Penrose.

Only one child has visited theoffices of the ManitobaAdvocate for Children and Youth since its moveinto anondescriptbuilding on Winnipeg's Osborne Street in mid-December. The advocacy agency had to abandonitsPortage Avenuepremisesbecause water was leakingfrom the skywalkabove.

On Portage, the advocate'soffice was seeing four to eight walk-in visits a day from children and adults, Penrose says.

"When kids come to an office that's locked or closed, when they are coming down off a meth binge or they are hungry or they are really struggling or in crisis ... my biggest fear is they're going to come to the door and walk away and not get the help they need," Penrose said.

That mayalready be happening, she says.

Kids aren't showing up

She's spoken with tradespeople fixing up herheadquarters at 346 Portage Ave., a privately owned building, who saythey'veseen youth trying the locked doors at that location.

"I come back here [to the Osborne office] and I find out they didn't make their way down here, even though the sign is right on the door that they're trying to open."

A notice on the front door re-directs people to the temporary officeat 270 Osborne St. N., between St. MaryAvenue and Broadway. The government-owned property does not have any exterior signage alerting people that it's the current home of the ManitobaAdvocate for Children and Youth.

The independent office of the Manitoba Legislature receives provincial funding, but is not part of any government department.

Penrosesays the biggest thing she's mindful of when children aren't showing up is her office's legalresponsibilities to advocate for the rights of children andamplify their voices.

She's been told her office will be back inthe Portage location on April 1.

In the meantime, the move hasalmost doubled the number of employees working at theOsborne locationa governmentbuilding which was already serving as a homefor roughly 20 employees of the children and youth advocate's office.

Some staff are now working out ofstorage closets, and the children and youth agency has beenforced torent space elsewhere to hold meetings with families and stakeholders.

"It does make working difficult," Penrose said of the space crunch."Investigations require staff to have tons and tons of material that they look through, so crowding is an issue for sure."

That has prompted the office to delay the release of some reports, she said.

The costs of buying new furniture and renting meeting spaceswill come out of the advocate's budget, but Penrose couldn't give an estimate on what those costs will be.

Since she was sworn in as Manitoba's children's advocate in 2017,the office on Portage has flooded five times, Penrose said two events have beenserious enough to result in amulti-month eviction, including the mostrecent event, which causethe ceiling to give way and soaked the floor.

In a statement, the provincial governmentsaid it is in regular contactwith the owner of the Portage Avenue building whothe province says isresponsible for repairs to ensure the advocacy agencycan return to its office by April.

The government said it moved quickly to find available spacefor the children and youthadvocate, but it isdifficult to find a venue thatmeets the agency's needs.

The advocate's office said the flooding issue wasn't the fault of the landlord, butstemmed from the skywalkabove.

Penrose said the lease for the Portage office was extended two years agobut her agency is waiting for a new, larger complexto absorb all of itsstaff. Itreceived approval for a new location last Octoberfrom the province's Legislative Assembly Management Commission.

Penrosesays shedoesn't know where the new venue will be, but shewants the new office in a neutral but accessible location for youth who need help.