2018 QCCQ 18234, 2018 QCCQ 18234

Protection de la jeunesse — 189376 2018 QCCQ 18234 COURT OF QUÉBEC CANADA PROVINCE OF QUÉBEC DISTRICT […] LOCALITY […] Youth Division No. 640-41-002203-187 DATE: August 22, 2018 ______________________________________________________________________ PRESENT: THE HONOURABLE LUCILLE BEAUCHEMIN J.C.Q. ______________________________________________________________________ IN THE MATTER OF X, born on […], 2016 Child ______________________________________________________________________ [Social Worker 1], youth protection worker, duly authorized by the Director of Youth Protection of the A child and youth protection centre Applicant and A Mother and B Father ______________________________________________________________________ JUDGMENT ( sections 73.1 and 38 , Youth Protection Act , CQLR, c.

P-34.1) ______________________________________________________________________ JB3406 WARNING: The Youth Protection Act prohibits the publication or broadcast of information allowing a child or the child’s parents to be identified.

Every person who contravenes this provision is guilty of an offence and is liable to a fine (ss 11.2, 11.2.1 and 135 Y.P.A .). [ 1 ] The Director of Youth Protection submitted an application to the Court to have the security and development of the child declared in danger because she is a victim of neglect regarding supervision or support. [ 2 ] The Director alleged a long series of facts.

This judgment refers to those facts. [ 3 ] The Director recommends that the Court entrust the child to a foster family until February 28, 2019, and that it order several assistance measures, including follow-up by social services for the same period. [ 4 ] The mother admits most of the facts alleged and challenges part of the Director’s recommendation. The mother consents to the child’s placement for the recommended period. She disagrees with the Director’s recommendation, and she asks for the child’s progressive return to her care as soon as the situation allows it.

The father admits almost all the facts alleged. He agrees with the recommendations because he is in detention. He appreciates the short term of the measures. [ 5 ] The evidence reveals the following facts. The child is a twenty-month-old toddler. She has siblings. The Court has the situation of Y before it as well. The older child’s siblings have been the subject of judgments of the Court of Québec since March 2013.

The family’s situation is known to the Director because of physical abuse by the father, psychological ill-treatment and neglect in terms of inappropriate parental attitudes and poor supervision in the maternal environment. [ 6 ] The mother has an long-standing drinking problem.

[ 7 ] In May 2017, the child was placed in foster care with one of her sisters in a non-Inuit family in Town A. At the end of September 2017, the mother entered the Portage Mother and Child treatment program and, on October 24, 2017, her two youngest children, X and Z, went to the Portage facility with their mother. [ 8 ] On May 18, 2018, the mother returned to Town B after having completed her program at the Portage Treatment Centre. Her sobriety did not last long. The social worker testified that the mother did not show up at social services or at the Director’s office after her treatment at Portage.

The Director received six reports concerning the mother because of her drinking. The last one was received on August 6, 2018. [ 9 ] The mother has not ensured the follow-up recommended by Portage. She testified that she was back in May 2018, after her treatment at Portage. She states that, in June and July 2018, she met with C and D, the two workers from Portage responsible for the aftercare treatment. The meetings lasted two hours.

According to the mother, the next meeting with them will take place before the end of August 2018. [ 10 ] The undersigned asked the social worker to verify the information with Portage. It was revealed that C and D were in Town B on June 6, when they met with the mother for two hours for individual counselling. They were back on July 14 and August 4, 2018. The mother did not show up. She relapsed again on August 6, 2018. Portage offered the mother the possibility of going back to Portage for treatment, but not to the Mother and Child Program.

The mother agrees to go back to treatment for the necessary period of time, which could be up to four to six months. [ 11 ] She has resumed drinking, even in the presence of the child. The mother is very passive and does not implement the plan developed in treatment for her healthy transition into the community. [ 12 ] The father has been detained since April 2016 for violent behaviour. He was supposed to be at the halfway house until the end of his sentence, in March 2019. On August 4, he was brought back to jail because of a breach of conditions: he returned to the halfway house intoxicated.

The child has barely seen her father because he has been detained since 2016. [ 13 ] Both parents are presently unable to care for their child. [ 14 ] The Revision Report assesses the child’s need of protection, at 6: The mother is unable to provide a safe and secure environment for her children in her native community. She greatly struggles wih alcohol consumption issues. Consequently, all of her children have suffered from the consequences of the mother’s choices for many years now. Since the mother’s return from treatment, she has not taken any steps into establishing a healthier lifestyle in Town B.

She has not collaborated with D.Y.P. and is very hard to find in the community; the mother has not taken the steps to provide a safe and secure environment. … Given the high level of vulnerability, the lack of collaboration of the mother and alcohol consumption, we are unwilling to manage the risk of leaving the child in the mother’s care. … We are unsure that, in the near future, they (the parents) will be able to have them back into their care and this is why we think a foster placement for X is necessary. She’s the youngest of the family and the most vulnerable considering her age.

Contacts with the mother will be encouraged and maintained considering their bond. The mother will also be put to contribution to find a long term foster family for her youngest daughter. Our goal would be to find a stable and adequate family in the community for X. [ 15 ] The child cannot be put on hold indefinitely, waiting for adequate parents who care for her. The parents have demonstrated that they currently seem unwilling and incapable of taking steps to treat their major issues. The Director may have an obligation to make a plan life for the child, who is highly vulnerable.

The child has the right to continuity of care, stable relationships and stable living conditions corresponding to her needs and age, on a permanent basis. [ 16 ] The Director will have to carefully assess the family that the mother might recommend. Children are not ping-pong balls. In many files, we see children moved from one place to another an astonishing number of times, even when they are young babies. This is highly detrimental to the psychological development of a child. Often, very young children are entrusted to members of their extended families who cannot take care of them for a number of reasons.

They are moved from an aunt to a cousin, to the grandparents, to another aunt, and so forth, for the main reason that the law is applied without consideration for the children’s need for stability. That situation must not occur in the present case. [ 17 ] If no foster family can be found in the community, the Director will have the obligation to place the child where her needs can be met by responsible foster parents, even if it is out of the community.

THEREFORE, THE COURT: [ 18 ] ALLOWS the application; [ 19 ] DECLARES that the security and development of the child X are in danger because she is a victim of neglect regarding supervision or support. AS MEASURES DEEMED TO BE IN THE CHILD'S INTEREST, THE COURT: [ 20 ] ORDERS that the child be entrusted, until April 15, 2019, to a foster family chosen by the institution operating a child and youth

protection centre; [ 21 ] ORDERS that all contact between the child, her parents and her siblings be supervised by the Director of Youth Protection with regard to the terms and degree of supervision, the frequency being established with the consent of the parents and the social worker; [ 22 ] ORDERS that the parents remain sober and refrain from all violent behaviour in the presence of the child; [ 23 ] RECOMMENDS that the father seek help through social services and other resources in the community for his drinking and anger issues; [ 24 ] RECOMMENDS that the mother seek help from social services, the Portage treatment centre, the Portage aftercare program and AA meetings for her drinking problem; [ 25 ] ORDERS that the parents ensure that the child is not exposed to any individuals under the influence of alcohol during visits; [ 26 ] ORDERS that the parents report in person, at regular intervals, to the Director of Youth Protection to inform her of the current situation; [ 27 ] ORDERS that the parents take an active

part in the application of the measures ordered by the Court and cooperate fully with the Director of Youth Protection; [ 28 ] AUTHORIZES the Director of Youth Protection to access the information regarding the parents’ presence at appointments with professionals and their level of involvement in the services provided; [ 29 ] ORDERS that the Director of Youth Protection prepare a life plan for the child; [ 30 ] ORDERS that a person working for an institution or body provide aid, counselling or assistance to the child and the child’s family until April 15, 2019; [ 31 ] ENTRUSTS the situation of the child X to the Director of Youth Protection of the Inuulitsivik child and youth protection centre, who will see that the measures are carried out.

SIGNED IN TOWN A October 9, 2018 LUCILLE BEAUCHEMIN J.C.Q. Mtre. Sarah Bourgeois-Lessard Counsel for the Director of Youth Protection Mtre. Cassandra Neptune Counsel for the child Mtre. Angèle Tommasel Counsel for the mother Mtre. Marianne Léonard Counsel for the father Date of hearing: August 22, 2018