The University of Manitoba says that they have discovered “distressing and disturbing" statistics regarding youth in care.

Researchers at the University of Manitoba studied over 18,000 children born in 1994 to see how their involvement with Child Welfare Services (CFS) affected their likelihood to be charged with a crime.

Marni Brownell, the senior research scientist/associate director of research at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy (MCHP) says they found "a very strong association" between being taken into CFS and being charged criminally as a youth.

“This does not prove that being in care causes justice system involvement. But it quantifies the substantial overlap between the two systems, which Indigenous leaders have been talking about for decades,” Brownell says.

Between the ages of 12-17, Brownell says over one-third of youth in CFS in their study was charged with at least one crime. By the time the youth turned 21, they say close to 50 per cent were charged with an offence.

The study found that many of the charges youth faced were administrative, meaning breaching conditions such as breaking curfews or drinking alcohol.