Child welfare system overwhelmed, agency head tells inquest

The head of an aboriginal child welfare agency told an inquest into a 14-year-old foster girl's suicide that the native child welfare system is underfunded and overwhelmed.

Michael Bear, executive director of Southeast Child and Family Services, testified Wednesday that his own agency looks after more than 950 children. One, 14-year-old Tracia Owen,was found hanging in a garage in Winnipeg's West End in August 2005.

Bear told the inquest that Owen is the face of what can happen when things in the child welfare system go terribly wrong.

The girl had moved 65times between foster homes, group homes and a drug treatment facility in her 14 years, including 18 times away from and back to her biological parents. Her father, Leonard Bushie, had told the inquest Tuesday that he and Owen's mother struggled with alcoholism.

The inquest heard that Owen's files indicated she suffered from depression and substance abuse. At one point, she was also a victim of sexual abuse.

The inquest, which began Monday, was established to look at whether drugs or sexual exploitation were factors in Owen's death. It will also examine who in the child welfare agencies monitored her life.