Priscilla Manful's Odyssey: Reimagining Child Welfare Through Leadership and Community Integration

[00:00:00] Ellington Brown: Welcome to SpeakUP! International with Rita Burke and Elton Brown! 

[00:00:18] Rita Burke: As our guests are aware, we speak with individuals from all over the world. We have had conversations with people from England, from South Africa, from Brazil, you name it. But today we're back home. We are with our own Miss Priscilla Manful. Who was appointed Chief Executive Officer at the Catholic Children's Aid Society of Toronto in 2022?

She's the first person of African heritage in this role. Yay! Priscilla brings a wealth of knowledge to the role from her 20 years of experience in the social services sector. She joined this organization in 2007 as a student. Since then, she's held various positions in child welfare service delivery.

Under Priscilla's leadership, The Catholic Children's Aid Society implemented the Afrocentric Wraparound Model. Now, Priscilla holds a Bachelor of Science in Social Work, and an MSW from York University, as well as an English and Law degree. She was born in Ghana and came to Canada in 2000. Priscilla Manful, we welcome you to SpeakUP! International!

[00:01:40] Priscilla Manful: Thank you very much for having me, Rita and Elton. Thank you so much. I'm very much honored to be here and to be able to share a bit of myself and my leadership for International Women's Day. So thank you! 

[00:01:55] Ellington Brown: . You are definitely welcome! I am so interested in your transition and your vision So you being the first black African chief executive officer at CCAS, which is Catholic Children's Aid Society of Toronto for our listeners. So could you share with us what motivated you to pursue that position? And what is your vision for the organization moving forward? 

[00:02:22] Priscilla Manful: Thank you very much. I must say that I ventured into the social services sector by accident after I realized that I wasn't going to be successful with the accreditation process of my law degree obtained from my home country, Ghana.

Um, it was imperative for me to look into something else. And I was motivated to go back to school because I had been a firm believer that a good education was setting me up for success. In fact, This was drummed in my mind and my memory by my, uh, by my parents. And so I was, as I was doing my research, I was looking for opportunities that I could use.

My personal experiences to support inspire and then meaningfully influence change. And I soon realized that I could accomplish this through social services. So, um, I went back to school, uh, to get my postgraduate degree in social work and also my masters, uh, in social work, um, coming into child welfare.

I'll say was a natural fits. Uh, for me. And coming to CCAS in particular, um, was also very great because I was looking for an organization that aligned with my own values of faith, compassion, authenticity, courage, integrity, accountability, and all of that. And an opportunity to work with families. Uh, to resolve any challenges and advocates for them for, uh, for changes.

And so, um, I was, I found CCAS to be home for me to really grow in terms of my, uh, career. And so I went through all of the ranks from a student all the way up to the top now, uh, which I found very, very, um, humbling. When it comes to my vision for, uh, the organization, um, it is my goal That we will be seeing as a child welfare organization that truly listens to the needs of the community that we said that is the kind of community of Toronto and providing meaningful services that in fact meet some of these needs. And so listening to understand, listening to support, listening to assist wherever that we can.

And then, together with the Ontario Association of Children's Societies and also with other child welfare organizations and also with our ministry to be able to influence meaningful changes that help the families that we provide services to also looking at opportunities of engaging with multiple community based organizations that as we design programming for our families.

That they really align with your needs and that we are in fact viewed as a supportive organization and not one that we often see in the media where, um, anytime you hear child welfare in the media, it has to do with one negative thing after the other. The other piece for me is also ensuring that these programming that we share with families.

Leads to an equitable distribution of that is at the very forefront of everything that I do to making sure that we are incorporating equity in everything that we serve multiple families who are often marginalized. And so, um, that is what I'll say the vision really is at this point. Uh, we, we do have an incredible, um, staff members who are very open and committed to, in fact, working through some of these things.

[00:05:59] Rita Burke: So, we're, we're talking to Priscilla Manful, who is the CEO of the Catholic Children's Aid Society in Toronto. I need to know from How would you describe your leadership style, please? 

[00:06:16] Priscilla Manful: Absolutely. That's a very good question. Um, um, Rita. So I am very adaptable and I utilize multiple leadership styles depending on the situation of those that I'm working with.

To me, leadership is about influence. And so it's important for me to create psychologically safe environments and spaces, uh, where I can inspire, where I can engage, where I can empower and also collaborate with others to do their best work. It is important to me that staff know that I genuinely care.

And so I lead by example. I can also share with you that I am very direct in setting expectations and providing clarity and support. I am also huge on personal accountability and also holding others to account when we commit. To do something. It is important for me that we follow through completely as child welfare staff.

We are, I, I always say that we are called to the highest account, uh, providing supports and services to children, youth and families, often marginalized in our community. And so when we commit to doing something, um, and supporting families, it is very important to me that, uh, we're in fact following through with that.

And the other aspect for me when it comes to leadership beyond the organization is engagement with community partners engagement with community members, trying to understand some of their needs, and then utilizing my position to in fact advocates meaningfully with people that matter to make sure that some of your needs.

In fact, And hearing from families that the engagement with us were meaningful, that they felt supported gives me a lot of joy. Thank you. 

[00:08:12] Ellington Brown: You've had 20 years of experience in child welfare. And I'm just wondering if you can give us a few significant moments or experience that you've had. had in that service? 

[00:08:30] Priscilla Manful: Thank you for that! So let me just correct that very quickly. I've had over 20 years experience in social services sector in general, but in child welfare, this would be my 16th year.

I just wanted to correct that. And it's been such a rewarding career so far, given the different positions that I have held. I'll say that every position has come with its own sets of successes as well as challenges. When it comes to successes for me, uh, it is just engaging, uh, or supporting families. And, and in fact, witnessing their levels of resiliency in the face of adversity.

And, uh, that gives me so much joy and gives me that motivation to support and do more for, uh, uh, particular families. When I look at the young children and young people in our care, um, during graduation moment, Where they are graduating with different types of, um, uh, accomplishments, it gives me so much joy and seeing that they are being set up for success into, um, the, the, the real world.

I'll say that when I became a manager, that was one of the pivotal moments, um, in my career where I was able to lead organization to in fact pilots, the one vision, one voices, um, African centric wraparound, um, model. And to me, this was a model that was expected to support African families or black families, to be precise, when they interact with child welfare.

It was at a time where we knew of the representation of black families and also indigenous families in the child welfare system. And we were determined to do something Uh, about that. The autonomy that my bosses at the time gave me, in fact, led me to be able to implement this Afrocentric wraparound model, and we were very intentional, uh, uh, with my group, uh, of what we were doing with our families who were reported, uh, to us.

And I am so proud to say that it has been, it has been a sustaining organization. And other child welfare agencies are in fact learning from from us and how we did this. And when I talk about it's been successful, what I mean by that is at this point, there is absolutely no disparity of experiences when it comes to Black children coming into our care.

Uh, prior to this, uh, pilots, uh, Black kids were overrepresented in care when it comes to child, uh, when it comes to, uh, investigations. And, uh, when you compare the young people who come into our care to white families and, uh, through this program, and I'm forever indebted to One Vision, One Voice under the OECD, yes, and also being funded by the ministry, that this programming has been very, very helpful in the process of, in fact, scaling it up, uh, to, um, everyone.

The other piece also for me is the opportunity to be able to engage with our community partners and to think outside of the box and challenge the status quo and sit across our ministry staff and collaborate and trying to be the voice of some of our marginalized families. To be able to affect meaningful change.

And so, um, they've been a lot of successes, challenges on the other hand, also, it's also very real in the form of having to go through some of these bureaucratic processes and red tapes and at times feeling helpless. Uh, when you also witness the, some of the adversities and challenges that our families, uh, um, go through and, um, trying to figure out what around, uh, to support them, uh, meaningfully.

But it's, it's been a labor of love in general, if you ask me. 

[00:12:30] Rita Burke: Now, I love the metaphor. I love the feeling that I get when I hear Afrocentric wraparound program. Could you explain to our listeners, what does that look like? I can feel like and taste like it and sounds like please. 

[00:12:46] Priscilla Manful: Absolutely. So, um, as mentioned before, the AfriCentric Wraparound is a, is a model that was developed by One Vision One Voice.

And prior to that, a group of African, uh, uh, or Black community members came together, and there was a lot of consultation done between the and, um,

And, um, And the community trying to understand the impact of child welfare services on them and also trying to figure out from them what will be very helpful. So trying to understand and also trying to influence processes. And so, uh, there were, I believe there were a number of, um, Families or individuals who were engaged over 800 of them over a period of time, and then the information was then collated.

And then one vision, one voice, in fact, utilize that information to develop a program which will be piloted. And CCAS were fortunate to, in fact, pilot this. Uh, what we do know is that families. Not all children within families are not at imminent risk of danger or fiscal danger rather they live in families where who experienced a lot of adversity to talk about poverty, talk about housing challenges, precarious immigration statuses, and what have you.

And so, how we. Um, uh, to them was going to be very, very important as a sector. Uh, we've not necessarily done well in terms of when we went in terms of challenging referrals that come to our attention. We often do not take things at face value and take it as gospel. And what's the Africentric wraparound piece does at the front end of services.

When we get a poll, it is important for us to sort of sift through the intentions behind the call. It's also important for us to understand what is the role of child welfare here? If there is no rule, how do we redirect the caller to be able to support the film in meaningful way? If there is a rule, what is that goal really going to look like?

And also who is involved with this family, whether professionally or socially? And how do we bring everybody together to then review and reflect on the presenting issues and how then do we co-create solutions with a family, um, in terms of managing some of those issues that have come to our attention.

And so at CCAS, we were able to, uh, to develop what we call conference facilitators. So this individuals, I mean, the role really was to lead some of these conferences. And so at the front end of service, when we get a call, we had workers who were trained within this model, uh, to in fact, Uh, figure out, uh, intentions behind the calls, challenge the police as much as they can, redirect some of these calls as much as they can, figure out whether we needed to go on a full blown investigation or not, and what was that service going to really look like.

And then determining how do we engage the family by understanding things from that family's perspective instead. of just going through the status quo as to, okay, I get a family, this is what I have to do, dotting my i's and crossing my t's, instead of really treating people as human beings and understanding their challenges and then developing or co-creating, um, solutions.

I can share a very quick story, um, with you, uh, and at the time, I believe I was the, I was a manager, a supervisor, I can't recall was, uh, we had received a call from a school. Now our biggest referral source is a school system where, um, this teacher, who was very emotional on the call, by the way, expressed that a four year old child, a sole kindergartner, had come to school and was injured and, uh, had, had a band aid on her finger.

And when she had asked this child about how she sustained the injury, the child's only comment was, my daddy did it. Now this child, uh, who is a white, uh, uh, beautiful young child lives with her mother and her stepfather, who is a black, uh, Jamaican big burly with dreadlocks. And so this is not in her description of this stepfather was somebody who was very, very scary looking and might have scared and this kid now was injured.

Now, when you get such falls on the face value with a teacher who is very concerned about the well being of the child, and the child has sustained injury protocol kicks in and this protocol. Um, uh, uh, states that you have to then do an investigation with the Toronto police. So what this means is that you need to notify the police that you have a very vulnerable child whose safety has been compromised, uh, or who has been abused for lack of better term by his stepfather.

And so I was consulted on this and I said, okay, we need to get additional information. Um, I understand what this teacher is saying, but we need to get a little more information before we become. So intrusive, uh, the teacher who was already so much in the family emotional wouldn't necessarily go back to this child to, um, ask additional questions.

So we're able to engage with the principal who asked us to give her some time to call this child in and then figure out what. truly happen. It turns out that the stepfather was closing the door and had accidentally closed the door on this child's finger. He was immediately sorry, brought her to the hospital.

She got some stitches and they've been caring for this child since, which I believe is an appropriate response to a child's injury. And so we went from a potential joint investigation with police to absolutely not even opening a file. So what this AfriCentric wraparound, uh, um, process does for us is trying to figure out all potential, uh, um, things that could have happened, right?

So developing different hypotheses and still being always mindful about risk factors and also challenging some of the status. Oh, and been bold in some decisions. I mean, that we make to me. This is one example that have stuck with me, uh, for a very long time. We have many, many more. So when I talk about successes for some of some of our communities, I mean, real successes.

Can you imagine a child welfare worker and police showing up at the same time? school and the parents being called that the school have had to authorize it because of a child's injury and the police is here. The level of, um, the school for anxiety, worry, and we all, we all know about the experiences of black men's interaction with police Right?

And so, uh, what I'm always very mindful of when we get some of these calls, how do we respond to this call at the same time being mindful of the potential risk factors. So it is something that we are scaling up. And like I said, other agencies learning from us and going from there, 

[00:20:00] Ellington Brown: You've express excitement. You have a real passion about child welfare, modernization. Let's just call it that for now. So what specific changes or innovations do you anticipate and how do you plan to navigate potential challenges or resistance? Within the sector. 

[00:20:22] Priscilla Manful: Thank you so much for that. And I'm so glad that's how my excitement.

My passion is really, um, um, coming through. So I'm very much excited about the ministry's child welfare. We design or child welfare. Um, and I really credit our ministry. In fact, about this, because given the many consultations that they've done across the sector, uh, they've also had a lot from people around the impact of child welfare services.

And so the ministry is in fact poised to change that narrative, uh, in different, uh, domains. So one of the first one has to do with the front door service, um, making sure that we are We are providing meaningful supports to families that they need and also they deserve. Also ensuring is that we are prioritizing family based care instead of, when you talk about family based care, prioritizing kinship.

What that means is in the event that a child will no longer remain in the care of their natural or primary caregivers, how do we look at other caregivers within the same family, within the same community, and then using foster care or adopt? Alternative care as a very, very last resort. And on that note, I must say here that at CCAS, uh, of the many and thousands investigations that we do on an annual basis, 98 point something percent of children remain with their primary caregivers and they do not have to come into our care.

And that is really, uh, universal for many child welfare organizations in Ontario, um, uh, as well. The other piece, the ministry is also looking at a transitional, a transition for our youth who have been in our care and are transitioning into the larger community. So we have what the ministry now calls the RSG, which is Ready, Set, Go.

And what that really means is ministry holding the sector accountable in various aspects of ways to ensure that we are setting our young people up for success, for them to be productive citizens when they go on their own and are no longer relying on the Lookout Children's Aid organization. And so, so some of these are some of the things that the child welfare reform, really look at.

So. At CCAS in particular, and I say this with pride, uh, the first thing that we needed to look at was identifying our foundations, our foundational pillars in terms of our service provision. And so whatever we do, in fact, uh, uh, uh, underline about three pillars, which is ensuring that Uh, you know, so anti racist, anti oppression perspectives are always core to what we do.

The other piece is also ensuring that our services come from a place of trauma informed care, because many of our families, in fact, have experienced traumatic experiences. And it's important that The services that we provide them, in fact, incorporates the trauma lens as well. And finally, our Catholic identity.

So utilizing the teachings of the Catholic Church to be able to support our families, because at CCAS, we provide services to children, youth, and families from the Catholic community. The first thing that we are currently doing is looking at our funder of service. Uh, in terms of providing a differential type of services, regardless of, uh, the background of the family, which we called H.

A. R. P., and H. A. R. P. actually stands for Holistic Sustained Response Pathways, because we know that families are not a monolith and presented with different types of challenges. It is also important for us to have a range of, um, assessment tools and models to be able to support them accordingly. And so, given that, and we are just about piloting that now at CCS and I'm also thankful to the Catholic Children's Aid Foundation for in fact funding, uh, funding this for us on 100%.

The other piece we've also dubbed is youth readiness. And youth readiness is looking at different domains of ensuring that we set our youth up for success as the exits, uh, uh, the care system. And so ensuring that the educational processes are in place, um, uh, uh, financial processes as well, uh, looking at housing, because that's a very huge one, looking at education.

So all of all of these domains, in fact, won't be able to set them up for success before they leave. The other piece is also utilizing an early health intervention approaches, and we can do this alone. And so we are partnering or partnered with a community based services, a table, Rosalie Hall, and other community based organizations to be able to co-create.

Some of these services to support children within families that come to our attention. And so I'm just excited about the progress we've made so far. And I'm also very much appreciative to our staff members who are somewhat online and some of the things that we were taught when we first started our careers and challenging the status quo.

And, and, and it's, it's a slow process, but, um, I'm always amazed as to when people come into my office or. bump into me and share unconventional stories with me and how everybody in the organization really is embracing this new change because we're beginning to see the results and that gives me lots and lots of gratitude because for me when I especially when I look at our black families who have been compromised and we've always had the best of intentions but our services haven't necessarily done well for them and so when I see some of these shifts And, uh, when we begin to review some of the comments from service users who have left and sharing with us the impacts, it just motivates me for us to do more.

[00:26:29] Rita Burke: It sounds to me as if somehow your leadership style has allowed the staff to buy into the philosophy of giving this kind of care. And I must say that I'm very, very impressed. Do you think that the fact that you have Have a background in law? Helps you in this role?

[00:26:55] Priscilla Manful: First of all, thank you for acknowledging the leadership style. And I think there's something we call the parallel process. That behavior was modeled for me. So when I talk about being given the autonomy to be able to lead and implement that for centric wraparound, I was given that. opportunity because my bosses at that time trusted me and trusted my leadership.

And so when I talk about, uh, leadership, by example, it's always important for me to model in ways, uh, that is trusting that lead that then also let people to, uh, sort of be able to embrace and then, uh, and then lead. I'll say my law degree. Um, absolutely. I mean, You are a product of your environment. And so part of everything that you have learned throughout life really shape you and my education has in fact shaped me putting my law degree as well.

I always look at things from different perspectives. But most importantly, it is the recipient of the services that I'm always looking at as to What would this look like for them? And also, I mean, look at my own personal experiences and identifying, uh, with some of our families. I always ask myself, what would a meaningful service look like if I was in that presence?

So tuning in to other people's, I mean, she was listening, uh, uh, to people, um, really help. And certainly, uh, education, uh, in the different domains also help as well.

[00:28:24] Ellington Brown: Based on something that you said earlier, which made me think about community collaboration, and you've talked about all these pieces within, your organization and its stakeholders. And so I'm wondering, how do you foster partnerships with not only the children, the families, but the community? How do you get that community support? to help you do what you do best? 

[00:28:54] Priscilla Manful: Thank you for that. I always, um, go back to the African proverb when, when, when you say it takes a village, uh, it takes a village to actually raise a child and so no one person can do it. all, and when I also talk about child welfare being a calling for me, it is because also of the many experiences that you get when you're working with children, youth and families, because they are always often than not involved in multiple systems, be it Um, the court system, be it, uh, education system, be it the health system, et cetera.

And so for me, community collaboration is key. What we do here at CCAS really is creating an opportunity to understand the core issues that come to our attention that our families are really, uh, experiencing. And so once we figure that out, it is now incumbent on us to engage the different community partners.

And so we look at some, sometimes we go on their website. We also have dedicated staff members whose job it is to really broach some of these relationships. Sometimes we get this from families themselves who will say that I once went to this space, it was very, very helpful. Last year, uh, uh, in May, we at CCAS in fact held a community, uh, event where we brought different community partners together from different sectors, just for them to hear our journey of, uh, equity, our equity journey.

And so through that, we were able to develop. Meaningful collaboration and also, um, uh, opportunities to provide services to our children and families. One thing that when it comes to child welfare redesign from the ministry is also the realization that child welfare as a stand alone organization or sector cannot.

And wouldn't be able to meet the needs of everyone. And so we are encouraged to, in fact, develop and build some of these partnerships as well. So whether it is through memorandum of understanding or whether it is through child welfare, in fact, paying for some of these services, because I'm also very mindful that some of these grassroots organizations, inasmuch as they're very well intentioned and have the expertise, They don't necessarily have the financial resources to upscale some of your services.

And so how then do we share some of our own financial resources with some of these organizations, especially if it is going to be providing positive outcomes and outlooks for our children within families. And so we are very, very purposeful in terms of who we partner with. So when you look at some of these mainstream organizations, which are large, which are there, we need, those are the dominant groups.

I'm very, very keen in looking at some of those grassroots organizations who are well meaning, well positioned to support marginalized, uh, families. And so that is. That is some of the things that we consider. So when I talk about we are very intentional and purposeful in who we partner with. I don't take that for granted at all.

And so we, I mean, we reach out sometimes we reach out to us, and we try to figure out whether we have an alignment. Of what, uh, is needed to be able to support our families. And, uh, we have quite a number of partners that we work with that I'm always proud of. And, uh, some of these partnerships, I mean, I mean, areas CCS actually in fact bear majority, uh, of the financial costs for it.

[00:32:34] Rita Burke: You talked about Almost everything you do as an organization is intentional. And your major concern is the ultimate outcome for the people you serve, the families you serve. Now, tell our listeners if there was ever a time when you had to say, enough! 

[00:32:59] Priscilla Manful: Oh yeah. Absolutely! Um, how do I even start this. Um, so I'm trying, I'm trying to figure out so let me say this so as women leaders.

Also, with the added layer of being black and racialized, working and living in patriarchal spaces, we often overextend ourselves to fit the narrative of efficiency, effectiveness and accomplishment. We wear multiple hats that come with different responsibilities as parents, as caregivers, as spouses and also as leaders.

We get pulled in many directions. That's We often neglect to take care of ourselves. And I came to that realization that, uh, I have in fact placed unrealistic expectations on myself and I've had enough. And sometimes it also comes from a place of the imposter syndrome, the whole self doubt and questioning whether you are deserving of the role and you have to work twice as hard to be recognized and to feel accomplished, etc.

Um, I have. I'll say that when I first started, I was working practically every single day, Monday through Sunday, that there were moments that I didn't see that I was working into the wee hours of the night. And so I've made a conscious, uh, decision to incorporate self care in my life and also carve precious moments, uh, for myself and I'm trying, by the unapologetic about, about, about this because I don't want it to be affecting me.

And so it's important to me now to bring this in the workspace and share with everybody that's enough is enough. We can do so much and we should be content. With what we are doing and not to overextend ourselves because then that leads to burnout and that leads to some unimaginable health, um, issues.

And, uh, at the beginning of this year, uh, in the town hall meeting, uh, with total agency staff, I said to them, one area I want us to prioritize is in fact, um, self care. Uh, for all of us, because if we are not taking good care of ourselves, how then can we in fact take care of the people who rely on us, uh, to feel well.

So that is the, that, that is one aspect for me as a black, uh, female leader is when you go into certain spaces and certain things I expected of you. And, uh, People expect you to also act as that angry black woman. It is a real thing and trying your very best to self regulate and be the leader that you know that you are.

And for me, it is going back to my own values as to what makes me and how do I show up for myself and how do I show up for others. And it's a constant thing. It's a constant thing. But, um, when it comes to that, enough is enough. I think I'm worried. I honestly don't care about what people see about Priscilla any longer, as long as I know I'm That, um, whatever decisions that I'm engaged in, those decisions are based on facts and that the intentions behind them are to, uh, are positive.

[00:36:27] Rita Burke: The intentions are honorable. The intentions are honorable, 

[00:36:31] Priscilla Manful: Right! 

[00:36:32] Rita Burke: So you brought up a topic that is dear to my heart and I know we don't have time to talk about that today, but maybe we'll invite you back. To talk about that angry black woman thing. Because, I don't think we need to be ashamed or embarrassed.

To call ourselves angry because there are lots of things around us that make us angry. And not to be angry is denying our reality. I mean, Rosa Parks was angry, that's why she did what she did. And so was Viola Desmond. So let us, let us carry the flag. We're angry black women, so what? 

[00:37:07] Priscilla Manful: Right. And I'll be more than happy to come back anytime, because an underlying of that angry black woman is also that tone policing, right?

At times when you express, and I've heard this many, many times, when you express yourself, you're perceived very differently, you're perceived as if you need to tone it down a little bit, and that is tone policing. And that is a whole topic on itself, and I'll be more than happy. 

[00:37:37] Rita Burke: Let's talk about it at some point. Sorry, Elton. I didn't mean to get in your way. 

[00:37:41] Ellington Brown: No, no, you did not get in my way. So what do you see in the future for CCAS? What do you see yourself creating this legacy through your passion? Where do you see yourself 5 years from now? Provided that you're still with CCAS. 

Right. I'll say that I'm already living that dream now.

When I look at some of the meaningful changes that have already occurred, the future can only be, um, brighter. One of my vision, really, for organization, Is that we incorporate the chat the that this is child welfare redesign by ensuring that we are challenging the status quo, creating meaningful programming and opportunities for our children, youth and families.

I also envision a time where we have less number of kids overall in care, black kids in particular, uh, in care that, uh, kids in fact have found their forever homes, uh, um, be it through their own families or through other alternatives, uh, that we have very less number of kids in care. The other piece also for me is meaningful collaboration.

Uh, between the child welfare sector and other sectors, because child welfare redesign cannot be accomplished by child welfare alone, uh, so that is more on the macro level. But at the micro level, organizationally, I really crave for that time where our organizational culture is one that fosters inclusivity.

Uh, where everybody sees themselves, uh, in the role that we play at CCAS, regardless of the role that, I mean, they hold, uh, uh, where, I mean, leaders, in fact, lead by examples, uh, uh, lead with passion and, uh, truly committed to what we say we want, uh, to do. So, overall, I want to be able to sit back and hear from families saying that when I interacted with CCAS, My needs were in fact, uh, uh, met.

I felt heard. Uh, I felt fulfilled. And I feel that I'm empowered to be able to lead, uh, my own life. Uh, for our children, youth, and families. To me, that is the ultimate, uh, uh, goal, um, uh, for me, uh, at CCS. On a micro level, macro level, and also really with our families.

Well, you told us about your The fact that you were born in Ghana, and I'm always interested and I'm sure audience would as well be interested in hearing a little bit about your immigration story. 

[00:40:18] Priscilla Manful: Okay. So, um, I was born and raised in Ghana, West Africa, it's a very very loving family. But I should also say that we didn't have much. But always was a loving and supportive family until death laid its icy hands on my father, rendering my mother, widow, and my sister and I fatherless. My parents, in fact, prioritized education as the key to success. And so my single mother did all she could to see us through. And so once I obtained my degree, I set out to look for opportunities beyond my home country.

Canada, in fact, became an obvious choice given the hype at the time. But I had a rude awakening once I got here in the year 2000. The culture shock, involvement. My involvement with multiple systems, including the shelter housing system, immigration system, law enforcement system, education system. And I should also say that there were moments of depression for me and almost giving up.

Um, I worked in many production factories and also did, uh, other menial jobs, uh, just to, uh, get by. And I found myself in very low and compromising, uh, situations. At some point I got married, uh, and then when my kids were toddlers. Um, uh, I was working different and multiple jobs to pay for school and maintain my family and my home.

Uh, it's also important to know that I was once detained by Immigration Canada and was at the point of deportation. I was however very resilient, uh, and determined to turn things around for me by working with and also working through the same systems that have oppressed me. And so once I obtained the so called, uh, Canadian degree and experience, I must say with pride that there was no stopping me.

And I shared this. to encourage all listeners, I mean, who find themselves in similar situations that are, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Surround yourself with your village, when I say your village, with good people who bear you up. Reflect on what you want. Uh, your life to be and chip away one day at a time.

Um, and slowly but surely you would begin to reap some of the benefits with the understanding that it gets harder before it gets better. And I'm a living proof of that. 

[00:43:03] Ellington Brown: You have been so busy over the past couple decades, at least to get where you are today. I'm sure that you're very, very proud of yourself.

I'm sure you, every now and again, you give yourself a pat on the back, which is, which is well deserved. You talked about self care and how important self care is. What do you do outside of work? Do you have any hobbies? Do you have any physical activities that you like to do? 

[00:43:34] Priscilla Manful: So, yeah, thank you for that. Self care, of course, is indeed important. Personally, I go to the gym now I haven't been in a while. So I need to get back up on that. But I do a lot of reading. Now if you ask me my authors, there are many but I do a lot of reading, that's really uplifts me, my biggest Book that I read daily. In fact, believe it or not, is the Bible.

I'm a faith person and I always set my day intentionally in terms of what message I'm getting from the Bible to help me throughout the day. And when I'm going through struggles, I rely on different scriptures to really help me manage that. I surround myself with also very good people in my village. My husband is my biggest cheerleader, uh, uh, who will really pull everything down at the home front for me to be able to do what I need to do.

I also take solace. Uh, and happiness, uh, with my own children, um, and reveal in some of their own, um, accomplishments. And so there are multiple things, and I love cooking, I love cooking African dishes. I mean, the biggest one being the jollof rice. And, uh, just watching my family sit. down and eat. It gives me, um, lots and lots of joy.

Um, the other piece for me at work, and I know this might sound a little bit crazy, which is self care for me, is, uh, when I'm a little bit charged, uh, or I'm a little bit tense, I walk about. I walk on a different floors, saying hello and hi. to people. And, um, it gives me so much joy when I see how our staff members are literally working away and chipping away and supporting people because it serves as a reminder of why I do this day in and day out.

And I have my group of girlfriends where I can be myself and not have to wear this leadership hat. And, um, just unwind and, um, refuel. So there are multiple things that I engage in that really help me. And it's not just one thing. 

[00:45:48] Rita Burke: That's elton's favorite question to ask people. What do you do to bring joy into your life? So I'm glad that he had an opportunity to ask that question. So today we're speaking with, um, we're speaking with Priscilla Manful, 

who is the 

CEO of the Catholic Children's Aid Society. And on SpeakUP! International, as you know, we seek to inform, we speak to education, we speak to Inspire, and I think through her story, we're doing all of those things today.

So I'm gonna say to you or ask you the question, Ms. Manfield, if you had to talk with a group of graduating students, it doesn't necessarily have to be in social work, graduating women students. Tell us three important points that you would like to share with them as they graduate. 

[00:46:39] Priscilla Manful: Sure. First of all, congratulations to the graduating class, but I'll say that find your purpose.

Don't be afraid to seek help from unimaginable sources and challenge the dominant view of how to school. Follow through with your commitments, but make them realistic because that is accountability and embrace. challenges by turning them into opportunities. Of course, they're going to be curveballs, but once you embrace some of these challenges and slowly turning them into opportunities, anytime you're going through some hardship, figure out as to what is the lesson here, and you'd gradually, um, begin to see and experience, uh, uh, the results.

Enjoy the journey because what doesn't kill you as the saying makes you stronger and most importantly, Give back to the community that supported you.

[00:47:31] Ellington Brown: I think that's most important, is being able to give back to the community. We don't want to find ourselves just takers, just basically sucking the life out of our, out of our communities. In what ways do you give back to your community outside of CSS? I know you talk a lot about your Bible. 

[00:47:55] Priscilla Manful: Right, right. So, for me, I volunteer a lot. So, I volunteer in my local parish. I volunteer in the Guinean community as well. I go to speak, I get to get some speaking engagements. I volunteer at elementary schools and high school. So, my time, uh, joint parents council, uh, uh, uh, uh, perspective. Tips. Uh, so for me, it is multiple things that I do.

I'm also a board member on two different, um, uh, boards where I volunteer, uh, my time and, uh, also some of the mentors to, uh, black young girls, uh, in my, uh, community. And so my weekends are usually very, very busy, just going from one, uh, place to the other, just literally volunteering. And this past Christmas, I also volunteered at a soup kitchen for the homeless. And I'm always looking for opportunities that are so dear to me. And my volunteer work has to support people of marginalized backgrounds. Once again, it's very intentional for me. 

[00:49:02] Ellington Brown: You said that you are a speaker. Do you enjoy having conversations with groups of individuals? 

[00:49:10] Priscilla Manful: So long as the topic is one that is so dear to me, then absolutely.

Um, I love speaking to young people. Um, because as I mentioned before, I had a very young, like, difficult life growing up. Uh, not having much, and uh, all I had was my education, and so I, I can sometimes be biased in terms of speaking to young people about the importance of education because that is what I found to, uh, help me.

And education doesn't necessarily have to be formal education, there are different types of education. But whatever you set your mind to, you want to do it with rigor, you want to do it with discipline. And that is what accountability to me also looks like. So I truly love engaging with young people. I will make time for them any day, any time, just to share some of my own past experiences and hear, hear them as well.

And also seven as a mentor, um, with me recently had a black history month a couple of weeks ago, and we had an event. In fact, I was in the bathroom and uh, the moment I got out of the bathroom stall, this, uh, three young black girls had their cameras up and they said, miss man, can we take a photo with you?

You're real. Can we touch you? And just,

I'm like everybody else. And just having conversation with us, we young girls in the bathroom, uh, hoping that they take something vulnerable away also brings me joy

[00:50:41] Rita Burke: You said. Volunteer your time and my question to that is what time, what time is left over when you think about the number of hats that you wear. So, I'm going to say now, is there anything that you want to tell our audience that we haven't asked? 

Um, I'll say that. Because this is one thing I most often get asked being a first black.

C.E.O. at CCAS and what that sometimes feel like because it's very, very my rate. And I tell people that if I'm able to do it, people can do it too. So don't stop dreaming and working at it. But I guess on a much larger scale, what I want to So what I want to sort of talk about is that the child welfare sector in general hasn't necessarily always been depicted in positive light.

As I mentioned before, most often than not you hear about child welfare, when things go wrong, and this is truly unfortunate. Most recently, some of the child welfare news items in Ontario include the policeman crisis. Well, she didn't move in here. Our financial sustainability of the sector and also, uh, Children, uh, services to Children and youth presenting with complex, uh, special, uh, special needs.

Now, I want to also admit that they've been unintended outcomes of child welfare services that have led to negative outcomes, especially when it comes to representation and experience of disparity, uh, that have that have been experienced by Indigenous and also Black families when they interact with the child welfare system.

But what is important to note is that the sector has taken steps in ensuring that agencies, uh, is upholding to the value of Truth and Reconciliation Agreement as well as implementation of One Vision, One Voice's race equity practice. And it is important to note that staff from this sector have dedicated themselves to working alongside families, community partners, and other sectors to improve the lives of children, youth, um, and, uh, their families.

There was a collective work, uh, to improve the sector in partnership with other, uh, uh, mainstream sectors and also grassroots. Organization. And I already share some of the things that we are doing here at CCAS. So I want us to begin to look at child welfare as, um, A sector that helps, that supports, that work in partnerships with family and families to be able to resolve their issues instead of the negative connotations that we always sort of see here.

But on, on every note, I want to say thank you very much to both of you for having me. Uh, it's been a pleasure, um, speaking to your audience and I'm a firm believer now of your, of your programming and so thank you for having me! 

[00:53:32] Ellington Brown: It has definitely been a privilege. We talked about so many things. We talked about your transition into your position, your professional journey of years of experience before you arrived where you are now.

We talked about child welfare modernization . You have a definite passion for what you do, and I think that passion is going to drive your organization in a favorable light into the future. So thank you so much. And we are looking forward already. To having you back again. 

[00:54:16] Priscilla Manful: Thank you so very much. I really appreciate it. Appreciate it!

[00:54:19] Rita Burke: It certainly was a joy. Thank you. It certainly was a joy. 

[00:54:24] Ellington Brown: Thank you for listening to SpeakUP! International. If you wish to contact Ms. Priscilla Manfield, please be prepared to submit your name, your email address and the reason why you wish to contact Ms. Manful. at torontoccas.org/contact-us/. Are you interested in the opportunity to be interviewed and have your cause promoted by SpeakUP! International? We invite you to connect to us by sending a message that includes your name, company or organization name, the valuable service you offer to your community, and your email address to info@speakuppodcast.ca. Worried about your confidence as an interviewee? Don't fret! SpeakUP! International can provide you with the necessary training so you shine during an interview! To receive training information and a 10% discount about the SpeakUP! International's podcast interviewee trainee program, email us at info@speakuppodcasts.ca. You can also reach us using Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. To connect to our podcasts, use Spotify or your favorite podcast platform and search for SpeakUP! International. You can also find our podcasts using our web address, speakuppodcast.ca. Our logo has the woman with her finger pointing up mouth open, speaking UP! 

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