The turnaround at the DPJ should not take long, experts believe

The turnaround promised by Quebec to the Department of Youth Protection (DPJ), which has been drowning in controversies for weeks, will take time, experts agree, but quick solutions exist to put the network back on track.

Children are the most important natural asset of a society. You have to put money, energy and skill into itsays former judge at the Youth Chamber Jacques R. Roy, in an interview on the show First the info on the airwaves of -.

In his eyes, it would be wise to create a professional order for specialized educators who work in youth protection. Such a measure would make it possible to offer them continuing training and clinical supervision, he suggests, in addition to making them accountable. if they acted incorrectly.

Unions exist, that’s good, but their mission is to protect their members. We must also protect children and adolescentsinsists the retired magistrate.

As a reminder, the Association of Specialized Educators of Quebec has been calling for the creation of a professional order since 2017. Job titles ensure that employers will hire almost any person with any degree for educator positionsits president, Marc Sauvageau, recently confided in an interview.

Another suggestion, continues Jacques R. Roy, would be to slow down the high turnover of staff. How? By demanding, from stakeholders, a minimum three-year commitment from their hire date, he suggests.

Currently, it is not uncommon for several people to share the file of a child under guardianship, which is not without impact on the quality of the services offered. We need continuity at the young people level and avoid it being visited by Pierre, Jean, Jacques.

On the ground

Earlier this week, Lesley Hill took over as head of youth protection, replacing Catherine Lemay. The one who held the position for three and a half years left her position in the wake of the sexual scandal that occurred at the Rehabilitation Center for young people with adjustment difficulties in Cité-des-Prairies. The minister responsible for Social Services, Lionel Carmant, demanded his resignation.

The appointment of Lesley Hill as the new National Director of the DPJ is good news, believes former judge Jacques R. Roy. I am confident that the situation will improve, but we have to invest time.

Trained in social work, Ms. Hill is one of the signatories of the final report of the Special Commission on the Rights of Children and Youth Protection — also called the Laurent Commission. This document will serve as a roadmap to redress the situation in the network, she has already indicated.

Nancy Audet, author and godmother of the DPJ Youth Foundation, asks for no less. But above all she hopes that the new boss will not try to sort things out by standing behind your desk and talking on the phone. Lesley Hill must meet educators and young people, insisted the ex-journalist in an interview on the show Facts First on ICI Première.

The DPJ is not only faced with a glaring lack of experienced professionals, but intervention practices vary enormously from one youth center to another, even from one unit to another, she added. There are abnormal things happening in all centers in Quebec.

It is just as urgent to appoint a Commissioner for the well-being and rights of children, argued Ms. Audet, who herself was a child taken into care by the DPJvictim of abuse in his youth. This is also a key recommendation of the Laurent report published in April 2021.

Transparency and accountability

Lesley Hill agrees. It is certain that the faster, the bettershe argued, also visiting the show Facts First. As a reminder, Quebec adopted the bill aimed at creating a commissioner for the well-being and rights of children last May. The government says it hopes that it can come into operation as quickly as possible, in order to be operational from 2025.

Over the past decade, we have seen a deterioration in youth protection servicesadmitted Ms. Hill. According to her, the mergers of establishments and major reforms in recent years have destabilized children’s services and social services as a whole, particularly the last reform of 2015 under the Liberals of Philippe Couillard.

The new national director has no illusions: she has her work cut out for her to straighten out the network of the DPJmired in bad practice scandals and struggling with staff shortages and dilapidated facilities. In particular, she promised more than transparency and accountability in the network, encouraging employees to denounce intolerable situations.

My first message to my network will be transparencyshe insisted Thursday in front of representatives of the press. We will have to put a big light in our house, in all the wardrobes, in all the rooms of the house, and we risk finding cobwebs. We will have to clean them up and do what is necessary to truly be the exemplary institution that children have the right to have in Quebec.

On - on Saturday, Lesley Hill also felt that it is necessary rethink our ways of offering our services, especially in prevention. Because the ultimate goal is to avoid reporting being necessary.

It must be said that nearly 135,000 separate reports were lodged at the DPJ in 2023-2024. This figure was around 80,000 ten years ago.

Today we are talking about 370 daily reports, protests author Nancy Audet. Imagine seven big yellow buses parked outside your home and they are filled with children every day. This is the number of reports of mistreatment [au Québec].