2023 QCCQ 7420, 2023 QCCQ 7420

Protection de la jeunesse — 231500 2023 QCCQ 7420 COURT OF QUÉBEC CANADA PROVINCE OF QUEBEC DISTRICT OF [...] TOWN OF [...] « Youth Division »

No: 145-41-000739-224 DATE: March 30, 2023 ______________________________________________________________________ BY THE HONOURABLE CELESTINA ALMEIDA, J.C.Q. ______________________________________________________________________ THE DIRECTOR OF YOUTH PROTECTION Applicant and X Born on [...], 2017 Child and A B Parents ______________________________________________________________________ JUDGMENT ______________________________________________________________________ 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 9.2, 9.3 and 135 Y.P.A.). [ 1 ] The director of Youth Protection (DYP) asks the Court to revise and extend the order rendered on August 10, 2022, in respect of the child in order to entrust her to a kinship foster family until her majority. [ 2 ] At the hearing, the parents are absent despite the fact they were duly notified of the court proceedings. As for the child, a lawyer takes care of her interests. She consents to the measures recommended by the DYP, and this, considering the documentary evidence adduced.

ANALYSIS AND DECISION [ 3 ] In the last judgment rendered ratifying an agreement reached between the parties, the child is entrusted to a foster family. Parents benefit from contact with their child, with supervision, if required. [ 4 ] Since this Court order, the parents’ situation has hardly changed. The mother does not cooperate with the DYP at all. Several meetings are scheduled with her, but she does not show up, even though she stays near their office. No matter how she is contacted, she does not give any sign of life.

She does not contact the foster family for visits with her daughter, nor does she inquire about her condition. [ 5 ] As for the father, he has little contact with the child and can go many months between exercising his access rights with her. He is not consistent in his involvement with his child. He may call for a supervised visit and then be absent from the child’s life for several months. This situation is like his collaboration with the DYP which is very sporadic. At times, he will agree to follow up and submit himself to drug testing, but then he will disappear for weeks at a time.

He struggles with addiction issues. [ 6 ] Although the parents agree to undergo a psychological assessment and parenting evaluation, they do not attend any appointments with the designated professional. [ 7 ] Since the last judgment, the father has had 3 supervised visits with his daughter while the mother has had none. The mother sometimes randomly shows up at the maternal grandmother when the child visits the latter.

[ 8 ] The child, now 5 years old, has been living with her paternal aunt and uncle for over a year and a half. They provide a secure, supportive, loving and soothing environment. She fits in well with this family and is an integral part of it, just like the couple’s children. She has made great progress since her integrating into her current family, and she is no longer the same child she used to be. She doesn’t have any more tantrums as she did in the past. She has been able to blossom in her new environment which caters to all her needs.

However, these behaviours sometimes resurface when contacts with her parents become irregular. [ 9 ] The child needs a stable, supportive, and secure environment to properly develop. It is in the child’s best interest to be entrusted in a long-term foster kinship family, the one of her paternal uncle and aunt. They provide loving, caring, competent and dedicated care daily. They are actively committed to the long-term care of the child, and clearly desire to keep doing so. They collaborate with the professionals who work with the child and are involved in the various follow-ups.

The child learns about her culture and participate in all kinds of activities. [ 10 ] The evidence demonstrates that the security and the development of the child are still in danger according to

section 38 of the Youth Protection Act . Considering the evidence submitted, the application is well-founded. The Court will order the following measures which appear to be in the child’s best interest. FOR THESE REASONS AND THOSE EXPRESSED VERBALLY AT THE HEARING, THE COURT: [ 11 ] GRANTS the application for revision and extension of order; [ 12 ] DECLARES that the security and development of X are still considered to be in danger according to

section 38 of the Youth Protection Act ; [ 13 ] REVISES AND EXTENDS the court order rendered on August 10, 2022; [ 14 ] ORDERS that the child be entrusted to the kinship foster family of her paternal uncle, C, and her aunt, D, until age of majority ([...], 2030); [ 15 ] WITHDRAWS from the parents the exercise of the attributes of the parental authority over medical, social and school authorizations, including the attainment of a driver’s license and a passport application, and AUTHORIZES the kinship foster parents, D and C, or the DYP to sign instead of the parents; [ 16 ] ORDERS that contact between the child and her parents be established upon agreement between the parties, and if there is no agreement, according to the following conditions and AUTHORIZES the DYP to supervise them; • Once a month, for three (3) hours, on the condition that the parents contact the DYP and request the visit and that they report in person to the DYP, one (1) hour prior to the visit; [ 17 ] RECOMMENDS that the parents involve themselves in follow-ups for their personal difficulties; [ 18 ] ORDERS that the parents be sober in the presence of the child ; [ 19 ] ORDERS that the parents report in person at regular intervals to the DYP to inform of their current situation; [ 20 ] ORDERS that the parents take an active

part in the application of the measures ordered; [ 21 ] ORDERS that a person working for an establishment provide aid, counsel and assistance to the child and her family until [...], 2030; [ 22 ] ENTRUSTS the situation of the child to the DYP of the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux A for the carrying out of the present judgment. _________________________________ CELESTINA ALMEIDA, J.C.Q.

Me Mylène Pelletier-Rivet for the applicant Me Isabelle Gagnon for the child Ms. A the mother (absent) Mr. B the father (absent) Written judgment filed on April 12, 2023.