Types of Foster Care in Manitoba: Emergency, Kinship, Respite, and Specialized

One of the most common misconceptions about fostering is that it is a single thing. Someone imagines a child who needs a home, and a family who provides one — full stop. In reality, Manitoba's system uses several distinct categories of care, each with different demands, different support structures, and different rates. Knowing which type fits your capacity is not just helpful — it shapes which children you can accept and what your day-to-day experience looks like.

This post walks through each placement category and what it actually means for the family providing care.

Emergency Foster Care

Emergency care is exactly what it sounds like: immediate, unplanned placements for children who have just entered the system. An agency calls with little or no notice — sometimes at 2 a.m. — and asks if you can take a child tonight.

Emergency foster parents need to be genuinely comfortable with unpredictability. You may not know the child's age, background, or needs before they arrive. You may have a child for two weeks or six months. Reunification timelines in emergency placements are often unclear at the outset.

What emergency placements require:

• Flexibility to accept placements at any hour
• A home that is always in a state of readiness (clean bedroom, basic supplies available)
• Strong tolerance for uncertainty — you may not know how long a child will stay
• Comfort with high emotional needs in the initial period, since children arriving in emergency placements have often just experienced significant trauma

Emergency placements in Manitoba are also complicated by a well-documented system pressure: the use of emergency placement resources (EPRs), including hotels, when licensed foster homes are unavailable. As of 2025, Manitoba has been working to reduce this practice, but the shortage of emergency foster homes remains real. Families who are willing and equipped for emergency care play a direct role in keeping children out of hotels.

Short-Term (Interim) Foster Care

Short-term or interim care provides a home while the agency works with the child's birth family on a reunification plan. These placements typically last weeks to several months, though "short-term" can stretch considerably.

The goal in short-term care is reunification. Your role is to provide stability for the child while their parents receive the support or services they need — addiction treatment, mental health care, housing stabilization, parenting programs. This means maintaining a collaborative relationship with the birth family and facilitating the scheduled contact visits that are part of the child's Plan of Care.

Some people find the relationship with birth parents uncomfortable at first. A framework that helps: you and the birth parents are not in competition. You both want the child to thrive. The birth parent wants to get their child back, and your job is to support that process while keeping the child safe in the meantime.

Long-Term Foster Care

When a child cannot safely return home in the foreseeable future — but a formal permanency decision like adoption has not been made — long-term care provides ongoing stability. Some children remain in long-term care for years, sometimes until they age out of the system at 18 (or 21 under Manitoba's extended care provisions).

Long-term care relationships can become deeply significant for everyone involved. Many long-term foster families maintain a connection with the child well beyond the formal placement period.

The challenge in long-term care is the ongoing ambiguity — you may care deeply for a child without having legal parental rights, and permanency decisions can be delayed by the courts for extended periods. Clear communication with your agency about your capacity for this kind of uncertainty is important when you discuss what types of placements you are suited for.

Kinship Care

Kinship care is the preferred placement option under Manitoba's Child and Family Services Act. It places a child with a member of their extended family or someone from their community — a grandparent, aunt, uncle, older sibling, or family friend — rather than a stranger.

Kinship placements carry significant advantages for children: existing attachment relationships, cultural continuity, and maintained family connections. For the kinship caregiver, the context is different from a stranger foster placement. The relationship with the child already exists. The decision to step in is often driven by family loyalty rather than a planned commitment to fostering.

Kinship caregivers must still complete the full licensing process to receive financial support and formal agency backing. Until a kinship caregiver is licensed, their financial support is limited. Contacting the relevant CFS authority to begin licensing is a priority for anyone currently providing informal kinship care.

For Indigenous children, kinship care connects directly to customary care frameworks — the community-based mechanisms through which Indigenous nations care for their own children according to their own laws and traditions.

Respite Care

Respite care provides temporary relief for primary foster families. If you are a licensed foster parent who needs a break — a medical appointment, a family trip, a mental health day — the child can stay briefly with a respite care provider.

Respite providers are licensed foster parents who specifically take short-duration placements of children already in care. Some people begin their fostering journey as respite providers to get experience before taking a primary placement.

The Foster Family Network of Manitoba coordinates some respite supports, and individual agencies typically maintain lists of respite-eligible homes. If you are providing primary care, your resource worker can help arrange respite so you do not reach the point of burnout.

Respite rates are paid at the same basic maintenance level as regular placements for the duration of the respite period.

Specialized and Treatment Foster Care

Specialized or treatment foster care is for children with high medical, behavioral, or emotional needs that require caregivers with specific training and capacity. This includes children with:

• Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)
• Significant trauma histories and complex behavioral presentations
• Physical disabilities or chronic medical conditions
• Mental health diagnoses requiring structured support

Treatment foster parents receive additional training beyond the standard PRIDE pre-service curriculum. Specific FASD training is available through most mandated agencies in Manitoba. Treatment foster parents also receive enhanced per diem rates on top of the basic maintenance payment.

The specialized care level system in Manitoba works as follows (monthly supplement amounts, 2025–2026):

• Level 1: $589 per month additional
• Level 2: $659 per month additional
• Level 3: $728 per month additional
• Level 4: $798 per month additional
• Level 5: $870 per month additional

The level is determined by the child's assessed needs, not by the foster parent's preference. Approximately 80% of children in care in Manitoba receive more than the basic maintenance rate through service levels or special needs funding.

Treatment foster care requires a realistic self-assessment. These placements are demanding, and the children in them have often experienced significant trauma. Many treatment foster parents say it is the most rewarding work they have done — but it is not a good fit for everyone, and being honest about your capacity protects both you and the child.

Sibling Groups

Keeping sibling groups together is a stated priority in Manitoba's child welfare system. Agencies seek homes with the physical space and relational capacity to accept multiple children simultaneously. If you have a larger home and can take sibling groups, flagging this during your licensing process increases the likelihood that you will receive placements where you can make the greatest difference.

Newborn and Infant Placements

Infant foster care — including newborn placements — is a specialized niche. Infants who enter care immediately after birth often arrive through situations involving prenatal substance exposure, including FASD risk. Foster parents for infants need to be prepared for the possibility of substance withdrawal symptoms in the early weeks, which requires attentive care and coordination with the child's medical team.

Some families who specifically want to foster infants should discuss this preference explicitly with their agency. Not all agencies have the same volume of infant placements, and matching your capacity with the right agency improves outcomes for everyone.

Understanding which types of placements fit your household — in terms of space, schedule, experience, and emotional capacity — is one of the most practical things you can do before you begin. The Manitoba Foster Care Guide includes a capacity assessment framework and walks you through each placement category, what to discuss with your agency, and how to set yourself up for a sustainable fostering experience.

Key Takeaways

• Manitoba uses at least six distinct placement categories: emergency, short-term, long-term, kinship, respite, and specialized/treatment
• Emergency care requires flexibility and tolerance for unpredictability; it directly addresses the province's shortage of immediate placement options
• Short-term placements are oriented toward reunification — your relationship with birth parents matters
• Kinship care is the system's preferred option and connects directly to customary care frameworks for Indigenous children
• Respite care supports the long-term sustainability of primary foster families
• Specialized/treatment care offers enhanced per diem rates but requires additional training and capacity for high-needs children
• Being honest about which placement types fit your actual household capacity protects you, the child, and the placement's long-term stability

See more Canada guides →