2017 QCCQ 7810, 2017 QCCQ 7810

Protection de la jeunesse — 173356 2017 QCCQ 7810 COURT OF QUEBEC CANADA PROVINCE OF QUEBEC DISTRICT OF [...] TOWN OF [...] Youth Division No: 600-41-000743-170 DATE: June 12, 2017 ______________________________________________________________________ BY THE HONOURABLE MARIE-CLAUDE BÉLANGER, J.C.Q. ______________________________________________________________________ MR [SOCIAL WORKER 1], social worker, exercising his profession at the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux A, having a place of business at [...] in City A, district A, [...] Applicant -and- X, presently residing at [...] in City A, district A, [...] Youth -and- MRS A Mother -and- MR B, domiciled and residing at [...] in City B, district B, [...] Father ______________________________________________________________________ JUDGMENT (Sec. 95 (1 and 2) and 75 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 11.2.1 and 135 Y.P.A.). [ 1 ] The Director of Youth Protection asks this Court to review and extend a decision rendered on March 29, 2017, which implemented a draft agreement entrusting the youth to his mother. [ 2 ] The mother was present at the hearing. The father, although duly notified, was absent. [ 3 ] The Director is seeking an eight months placement in a rehabilitation center. The mother, presently incapable of taking care of her son, agrees with the suggestion.

THE FACTS [ 4 ] X’s security and development were first declared endangered in January 2016. The child and his parents have received services from the Director in the past due to the child’s behavioral disturbances and the parents’ conflictual and dysfunctional relationship. Around October 2015, a very serious argument occurred between the parents and assault charges were issued against the father. It was also alleged that the father had slapped his son several times.

X also had fits of temper and displayed violent behavior. [ 5 ] He was then entrusted to a rehabilitation center for five months and was reintegrated with his mother at her residence in City A. She was no longer in a relationship with the father. [ 6 ] Since the last violent episode, the mother struggles with her health. She suffered a head trauma and has a follow-up in neurotraumatology for a possible vestibular disorder causing her dizziness, loss of balance and tiredness.

The center for neurotraumatology in Rouyn-Noranda can no longer help her and she will need to pursue her treatments in Montreal with a more specialized facility. [ 7 ] She can’t read for more than five minutes, or be in front of a screen. She needs to close her eyes while travelling in a car. Because of these residual effects, she is struggling to take care of herself. She realizes that it is physically impossible for her to supervise and tend to hers son’s needs.

[ 8 ] The mother agrees that her son needs immediate help. A week after the last Court date, he was refusing to attend school, was aggressive, and left the house without her consent. He ultimately came back on his own, having nowhere to go. [ 9 ] X has lived most of his life in a dysfunctional and violent environment. While he was living through those difficult times, he development a closed-off and opposing personality. Today this young adolescent has great difficulty with emotion and stress management.

He throws tantrums, screams, knocks over furniture or other objects and can become menacing, impulsive, violent and disorganized. When reacting to stressful situations, X will refuse to talk, won’t collaborate, will crouch in a foetal position holding his stuffed animals and will refuse to eat. [ 10 ] X’s emotional maturity is very low. He acts as though he wants to stay a little boy and has to be reminded to talk like a 12 year old instead of adopting a child’s way of speaking with a high pitched voice.

According to the social worker, it is as though he stopped growing from the inside. [ 11 ] Since his reintegration with his mother, X was uprooted from his community and his culture. Because he did not have the proper documentation, he could not be enrolled in City A’s English school. He accepted to attend a French high school with higher academic standards than his previous school, which amounted to quite a challenge for him. [ 12 ] X is a bright young man, capable of achieving good grades in school.

He seems to be demotivated to the point where he refuses to go to school, he is having a hard time with mathematics, which used to be his strong suit. [ 13 ] X’s relationship with his father in ambivalent. On one side, he wishes to see him more frequently. But when the possibility is real, he retreats, not wanting to see him, and gets disorganized. He clearly needs his father in his life, but seems confused and in distress.

Counselling and support must address this issue to help the youth understand and accept what he is feeling towards his father and prevent him from any guilt he might have because of those feelings. [ 14 ] The mother has a strong bond with her son. The youth trusts her and knows he can rely on her. It is not possible for her to exercise her full parental capabilities because of health issues and the treatments she needs to attend in Montreal. She also acknowledges that her son needs help that she can’t provide for the time being.

Her intention, if all goes well, is to move to City C and to enroll X in an English high school. They both would be closer to their Algonquin culture and X could attend traditional activities. He did mention that he misses his outings in the bush. [ 15 ] In the coming months, the mother will pursue her medical follow-up and be informed of the availability of treatments for her condition. This will eventually establish if she will regain her capabilities or if she will need to accept her actual limitations.

Undoubtedly, those answers will have an incidence on what lies ahead for her son and her. [ 16 ] For now, X needs the structure, the constancy and the security the center offers him. He is adapting well and participates in the activities. [ 17 ] He still needs to open up and to accept to work on what is hurting him inside, even if this is difficult for him.

It is the only way to begin to understand his emotions and resolve the different issues that prompt his negative behavior. [ 18 ] Considering the evidence, the Court is satisfied that the security and development of the youth are still endangered pursuant to sections 38 (b)( 2), 38 (e) (1) of the Youth Protection Act and, considering the evolution of his situation, under sections 38 (

c) for psychological ill-treatment because of the situation between the parents, and 38 (

f) for serious behavioral disturbances. The Court is also convinced that the applicant’s recommendations are reasonable and appropriate. FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT: [ 19 ] GRANTS the motion; [ 20 ] DECLARES that the security and development of X are still endangered under sections 38 (b)( 2), 38 (e) (1) and now under sections 38 (

c) and 38 (

f) of the Youth Protection Act ; [ 21 ] ORDERS that the youth be entrusted to an institution operating a rehabilitation center for a period of six months with reintegration with his mother as soon as the situation allows it; [ 22 ] ORDERS that the youth continue and implicate himself in a psychological follow-up as long as deemed necessary by the professional; [ 23 ] ORDERS an assessment of the youth by a child psychiatrist (pedopsychiatrist) and that his recommendations as to the needs of the youth be implemented; [ 24 ] ORDERS that the contacts between the youth and his parents be supervised by the Director of Youth Protection with regards to their frequency, their location and their length; [ 25 ] AUTHORIZES the Director of Youth Protection to have access to the information regarding the youth’s follow-ups with the professionals; [ 26 ] ORDERS that a person working for an institution or body provide aid, counselling and assistance to the youth and his family for a period of 12 months; [ 27 ] STRONGLY RECOMMENDS that the father takes the steps and signs the documents needed to obtain his son’s eligibility certificate permitting him to attend an English school; [ 28 ] STRONGLY RECOMMENDS that activities related to his Algonquin culture and his need to be outdoors, in the bush, be

organized; [ 29 ] ORDERS that the police collaborate, if necessary, in the execution of the present order; [ 30 ] ENTRUSTS the situation of the youth, X, to the Director of Youth Protection of the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux A for the execution of the present order. __________________________________ MARIE-CLAUDE BÉLANGER, J.C.Q. M e Julie Lemire Lemire, Gaouette & Martel Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux Lawyer for the D.Y.P. M e Vanessa Dubois Legal Aid Lawyer for the youth Date of hearing: April 21, 2017