Filipino parents fight to keep part-Mtis foster child

Two Winnipeg foster parents are waging an emotional legal battle to keep the childthey have been raisingfor nearly two years.

The parents tellCBC Newsthey fell in love with the 2-year-old boythey have been caring for since he was six months old, andtheywould like to adopt him.

Butthe child's guardian, an agency under the Mtis Child and Family Services Authority, objects.

The foster parents have been told that since they are Filipino and the child is partMtis, his long-term interests would be better served by placing him with a "culturally appropriate" Mtis family.

"We are willing to commit ourselves in order to give [the boy] a better future," the foster mother said in an interview. "Whatever he needs, we will support him."

The couple and the boy cannot be named to protect theidentity of the child, whofirst came into the foster parents' care in October 2011.

By September 2012, permanent guardianship of the boy was granted to theagency under the Mtis Child and Family Services Authority.

Appealing child's removal

The agency contends the family was told about a plan to put the boy up for adoption and place him with aMtis family.

Last spring, the foster parentswere told a match had been found and that the boy would soon be placed with the new adoptive family.

That's when the foster parents launched legal action, appealing the removal of the child.

The foster mother saidthe little boy now calls her and her husband "Mama" and "Papa."

"We are disappointed. We feel sad," she said, adding that losing the child would be devastating.

During anarbitration hearing held earlier this month, thecouple's lawyer, Paul Walsh, argued that the boy comes from a multicultural background. Although his birth mother is half Mtis, the boy is also Dutch, Irish, Scottish and Ukrainian, he said.

Walsh said a bond has developed between the foster parents and the toddler over nearly two years, andthat should be a bigger factor in his placement than one part of his cultural background.

"I respect the notion that if all other things were equal, the cultural background be it Mtis or something else is of significance. Butit's trumped by bonding, by attachment, amultitude of other considerations that rank ahead of cultural heritage," he said.

Aiming to preserve culture

Billie Schibler, chief executive officer of the Mtis Child and Family Services Authority, said thatif a primary caregiver identifies as Mtis, the mandate is to place the child in a Mtis homelong-term.

"We want to always do what we believe is in the best interest of children, but we also want to ensure that with every effort we are preserving our culture and our families, because that's what our communities are built on," said Schibler.

Cross-cultural adoptions of aboriginal children into non-aboriginal homes used to be quite common.

From the 1960s to the early 1980s, thousands of aboriginal children were placed with non-aboriginal families, sometimes out of province or in another country. The mass exodus of children became known as the "'60s scoop."

Schibler said many of the adoptions that took place in those years broke down, leaving a trail of broken lives as children grew into adults searching for their cultural identitiesand communities.

"We certainly saw the remnants, and still continue to see the remnants of those decisions," said Schibler.

"That broke apart so many communities, and it really was a step towards cultural genocide for a lot of these children."

Schibler said it's a period in history that can never be repeated, and things have now changed.

Birth mom wants boy to stay with couple

However, the boy'sbirth mothersaidthat shouldn't matter in this case.

The 23-year-old woman who also cannot be named to protect the child's identity echoesWalsh's argument, saying thatwhile her father was Mtis, bothshe and her soncome from multicultural backgrounds.

"Why does it have to be Mtis? Mtis is only one small part of him. The rest of him is the bigger part," she said.

The birth mother said she would like to see the boy stay with the foster parents he knows and has grown to love.

She fears moving the child would traumatize him.

"Right now the people he's with, he sees them as his parents. To him, it doesn't matter what colour or race they are. Why should it matter to me? Why should it matter to anyone else?" she said.

"He knows he's being loved and he's happy."

The arbitration hearing in this case wrapped up Sept. 12. The adjudicator has 15 days from that date to make a decision on the foster parents' appeal to have the boy remain in their home.

In the meantime,Walsh saidthe couple are filing a petition for guardianship of the boy.