2021 QCCQ 16580, 2021 QCCQ 16580

Protection de la jeunesse — 214648 2021 QCCQ 16580 COURT OF QUEBEC CANADA PROVINCE OF QUEBEC DISTRICT OF [...] TOWN OF [...] Youth Division No: 614-41-000651-200 DATE: February 19, 2021 (written judgment rendered on May 10, 2021) ______________________________________________________________________ BY THE HONOURABLE PEGGY WAROLIN J.C.Q. ______________________________________________________________________ IN THE MATTER OF: X , born on [...], 2013 [SOCIAL WORKER 1], Youth Protection worker, duly authorized by the Director of Youth Protection A, working in [...] Applicant and A, residing and domiciled in [...] Mother ______________________________________________________________________ JUDGMENT (Section 95 of the Youth Protection Act ) ______________________________________________________________________ WARNING: The Youth Protection Act forbids the publishing or broadcasting of information allowing for a child or the child’s parents to be identified.

Any person who contravenes this provision commits an offence and is liable to a fine (sections 11.2, 11.2.1 and 135 Y.P.A.). [ 1 ] The Director of Youth Protection (DYP) asks the Court to review a decision rendered on December 9, 2020, regarding the child X, born on [...], 2013.

At that date the Court declared the security and development endangered and entrusted the child to her mother for a period of 6 months. [ 2 ] The DYP submits that the situation does not allow to maintain the child to her mother and requests that the child be entrusted to her aunt B until February 18, 2021, starting February 18, 2021, that the child be placed in foster care with her great-aunt C, for the next 6 months. Position of the Parties [ 3 ] The mother is present and represented by Me Michel Grenier.

She recognizes that the security and development of her child are still endangered, but she disagrees with the measures. [ 4 ] The child is absent, but represented by Me Fanny Wylde. History of the Situation [ 5 ] On December 9 2020, the Court was seized with the situation of the child. X suffers from Down syndrome and requires a very close supervision. The mother lived with her daughter and another adult and 3 other children in a 2-bedroom apartment in City A. The mother is diagnosed with a borderline personality disorder, chronic pain and anxiety. She displays suicidal thoughts.

She takes medication and she is followed by Dr. Harvey. Despite the medical recommendation, the mother consumes alcohol. In August 2020, while the mother was living in City B, the child was reported been unattended in the street while her mother was sleeping. A similar event occurred in October. The DYP entrusted the child to her aunt, but the mother pick-up her child. The mother was not collaborative, and the police intervention had been needed. The mother is ambivalent regarding the place she would like to live.

Waiting for such decision, the child is not registered at school yet and doing so, the child does not receive services adapted to her special needs. The Court declared that the security and development of the child are endangered [1] and entrusted the child. Among other measures, the Court recommended that the school take the necessary step to provide a special program adapted to the child’s needs. Facts and Analysis [ 6 ] Before moving to City A in October 2020, the mother was living in City B at her grandmother’s place with her daughter.

They stayed there until December, when the mother decided to move in City C in the hope that her daughter could receive more services for her very special needs. [ 7 ] During her stay at her grandmother’s place, the mother travelled with her daughter across Canada during summer 2020. They went from City B to Gaspésie, to Victoria Island and decided to come back in City B, passing by Yukon. The trip was for the duration of one month and half.

[ 8 ] The mother arrived in City C on December 11, but notified the DYP only a few days later. At that time, it was not her priority to inform the DYP. Her priority was to look for a place to stay and, according to her, the last decision impose her to communicate with the DYP only once every two weeks, no more. [ 9 ] Since she is in City C, she was unable to provide a safe and stable place for her daughter. She first lived at friends’ place who, at one point, became bothered by X’s behaviour.

The mother had to move to a women’s shelter where she stayed only a few hours saying that X had no right to go outside according to the shelter’s rules. [ 10 ] The Native Friendship Center provided her with a hotel room for a few days. She also went to City D with another friend. She went there because she was looking for help regarding her depression. Finally, she found an apartment, but she was informed that she will have to leave this apartment. The mother has no plan for the future regarding the place she would like to stay.

According to her the most appropriate place would be in City D because there are more services for her, but on another side, she would prefer staying in City C because she knows the town very well. [ 11 ] Since she is in this apartment, the police intervened twice: once because there was a party in contradiction to the Public Health rules and another time, because her doctor was scared for her well-being. [ 12 ] The mother insists on the fact that her moving to City C was justified exclusively by her desire to provide more services to her daughter.

Unfortunately, when she arrived, the Friendship Center was closed due to the pandemic situation and to the Christmas Holidays. But despite this desire, the mother took no steps to look for specific services for her daughter and never registered her at school. [ 13 ] The mother makes numerous reproaches to the DYP worker saying that she neglects to transfer the file to the City C DYP.

However, a DYP worker in City C was assigned to this file and communicated with the mother. [ 14 ] Since her arrival in City C, the mother posted on Facebook, numerous worrisome messages, saying that she has no money to feed her daughter, that she has no place to stay and that she thinks about crashing her car with her daughter inside. The mother tries to justify such messages saying that she will never crash her and that was only thoughts that she made without thinking before about the consequences.

According to her, such reactions is due to her mental health issues. [ 15 ] The mother is very concerned by her daughter’s well-being and repeat many times that she wants to receive help. She reproaches to the DYP not to provide such help for her daughter. She considers that the different movings do not affect her daughter and she does not realize how it is difficult to provide help while she moves all the time. [ 16 ] The mother recognizes that her daughter suffers from Down syndrome, but she is convinced that she suffers from another disease.

She would like her daughter to be assessed to know more about her specific issues. [ 17 ] The mother is followed by a psychiatrist for many years for her mental health issues. She has a lot of confidence in this professional who is always very available to answer her phone calls anytime she needs. The mother suffers from borderline personality, depression, PTSD and Fybromalgia. For now, the doctor is looking for the most appropriate medication. [ 18 ] The Court was seized with an application for provisional measures and entrusted the child to her aunt who came to pick her up in City C.

After a quarantine in City C and another one in City B, the Court ordered that the child be entrusted to her great-aunt, still in City B. [ 19 ] Unfortunately, the child and the aunt received a positive result to the Covid-19 test and had to remain much longer in City C at the hotel. [ 20 ] Since this decision, Ms. [Social Worker 1], as well as the DYP worker from City C, made numerous attempts to reach the mother by phone and by e-mail to give her news about her daughter, but without success.

A request was also sent by e-mail to authorize that services be provided to the child, but the mother never replied. [ 21 ] Since her return in City B, the child had been registered in her previous school and will start by the end of February 2021. The child is well known by the teacher and the professional involved and it is already planned that appropriate services be provided to her to facilitate her schooling. [ 22 ] The child is back in the environment that she knows: her great-aunt’s house, her school, her friends, etc.

This stability is in her best interest, and the Court has no hesitation to entrust her under her great-aunt’s care. [ 23 ] Ms. [Social Worker 1] hopes that the mother could come back in her community and would like to work for a reintegration of the child under the mother’s care for the end of the year. The mother will have to be more involved with her daughter and to communicate more with her. [ 24 ] The Court agrees with the objectives fixed by the DYP for the mother to be able to resume the care of her daughter.

In the next 6 months, the mother will have to gain stability regarding the housing and regarding her financial situation. She has to understand how this stability is important for her daughter’s well-being. [ 25 ] Considering the difficulty to communicate with the mother and the mother’s reluctance to answer the DYP phone calls, e-mails, etc., the Court has no hesitation to authorize the DYP to sign the various authorizations to make sure that the child will receive the services that she need in a timely manner. FOR THOSE REASONS, THE COURT: [ 26 ] GRANTS the application;

[ 27 ] DECLARES that the security and development of the child X, born on [...], 2013, are still endangered; [ 28 ] ORDERS that the child be entrusted to her great-aunt, Ms.

C, as a foster family for the next 6 months; [ 29 ] ORDERS that frequency and modality of contact between the child and her mother be monitored by the Director of Youth Protection; [ 30 ] PROHIBITS the mother to publish any information on any social media or any other means of communication in a way that it could be possible to identify the child as being the subject of a measure under the Youth Protection Act ; [ 31 ] ORDERS that mother continue to work with mental health professionals and follow the recommendations; [ 32 ] ORDERS that mother work on securing a permanent home and financial resource for her and her child; [ 33 ] ORDERS that Director of Youth Protection register the child at [School A] with the consent that they can sing the registration forms for the child; [ 34 ] ORDERS that the child receive all health care and services required by her situation; [ 35 ] TAKES JUDICIAL NOTICE that the child will receive services from the Special Needs Team, from an occupational therapist and from a speech therapist for various evaluations; [ 36 ] ORDERS the Director of Youth Protection to make sure that the relevant recommendations from the medical professionals be provided to the school; [ 37 ] ORDERS the Director of Youth Protection to make sure that the recommendations set out by the medical professionals be applied including by the school; [ 38 ] ORDERS that if the mother should be unable to be located within 48 hours, the Director of Youth Protection is authorized to sing consents in regards to education, medical and travel; [ 39 ] ORDERS the Director of Youth Protection to inform the mother of any consent signed; [ 40 ] ORDERS that mother report by phone or in person to the Director of Youth Protection every two weeks, to inform them of the evolution of the situation in finding a permanent home and financial security and concerning the evolution of her mental health; [ 41 ] ORDERS that aid, counsel and assistance, are provided to the family for a period of 12 months; [ 42 ] ENTRUSTS the situation of the child X , to the Director of Youth Protection A, who shall then see that the measures are carried out; [ 43 ] ORDERS the execution of the present judgment by any peace officer. __________________________________ PEGGY WAROLIN , J.C.Q.

Me Magdalena Lempicka, attorney for the Director of Youth Protection Me Fanny Wylde, attorney for the child Me Michel Grenier, attorney for the mother Date of hearing: February 19, 2021