The Protection Option program, managed by the Office of the Haitian Community of Montreal (BCHM) and the CIUSSS du Centre-sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, which has notified hundreds of reports to the Protection Directorate youth in Montreal, will be extended to the entire Montérégie region.
Posted at 7:42 p.m.
Minister Lionel Carmant indicated, in an interview with The Pressthat he had granted $200,000 in funding to the community organization so that it could extend its program to a new region, the second largest in Quebec in terms of size. The objective is, ultimately, to export it to all regions of Quebec.
It is the Maison Internationale de la Rive-Sud, an organization that speaks directly to immigrant families, which will be responsible for the program in the region, in collaboration with the BCHM, which launched the project three years ago. Protection option.
I have been saying for a long time that the over-representation of certain communities at the DPJ is due to parenting issues which are not resolved with the DPJ, but rather through education and support. Not everything has to lead to a report. Many things can be sorted out in advance.
Minister Lionel Carmant
“The results of the BCHM project are fantastic,” continues the minister. Hundreds of families, almost no reports, families, workers who are delighted. » BCHM has supported 1,816 children and 1,505 parents since the start of the project. “The DPJ refers a child to us, but we take care of the whole family,” says Marie-Suzie Casséus, who directs the Option protection project.
“These are families who are often well-intentioned, who want to take care of their children, but who do not have all the knowledge or financial means to do so,” underlines Lionel Carmant. There are many other ways to help them than sending the DPJ into their lives. »
Ruth Pierre-Paul, general director of BCHM, agrees. “If the school, as soon as there is a problem, calls the DPJ, it is not surprising that the system is clogged,” she said. Not all of these children in our care end up on waiting lists. »
The Director General is delighted with the support of Minister Carmant. “It’s recognition of our work, we want to share our expertise. If it could help other communities, that would be wonderful. » However, she emphasizes, the financial challenges facing the program remain. The Montreal program employs 11 people and costs more than $1 million a year. It could not survive without the help of the Chagnon Foundation, underlines Mme Pierre-Paul.
In recent years, experts have highlighted the overrepresentation of black children in DPJ services. In January 2020, researchers Chantal Lavergne and Sarah Dufour, from the School of Psychoeducation at the University of Montreal, came to testify before the Special Commission on the Rights of Children and Youth Protection. In Montreal, black children represent 14.5% of the population aged 17 and under. However, in the institutional system of the DPJ, they are 29.6%, explained the two researchers.
