LEGISLATION
Association des centres jeunesse du
Québec — The Youth Protection Act — 25 years later
On January 15, 1979, Quebec adopted a ground-breaking
law, the Youth Protection Act. This Act has been both envied and
carefully scrutinized by a number of Western countries, and we even find
developing countries now looking at the feasibility of importing this
law. Quebec is also qualified to apply the necessary intervention
procedures thanks to partnerships between researchers and stakeholders,
more specifically regarding the issues of physical and sexual abuse,
neglect, and youth rehabilitation, including that of young offenders.
Twenty-five years later, close to a million Quebec
children have enjoyed the protection offered by this Act. The Directors
of Youth Protection (DYP) wish to salute their partners and citizens who
are more and more aware and intolerant of child mistreatment. This
phenomenon also indicates increased confidence in social workers and
educators. It should be remembered that all citizens are required to
contact the Director of Youth Protection if they believe that the safety
and development of a child between 0 and 18 years of age has been
compromised. The school, mothers and police forces are the principal
sources of such reports. The centres de la petite enfance (young child
centers — CPE), such as the local community service centres (CLSC), will
probably also come to play an important role in the screening and
detection of toddlers in need of protection. The DYPs were meeting media
representatives today to talk about children, young people, and Quebec
families in distress 25 years later. The DYPs will be tabling a report
highlighting the three major concerns which they will be pushing to the
forefront over the coming months.
First of all, the need to guarantee children as early
as possible a stable and reassuring living environment, to which they
will become attached and where their development can be ensured. This
can only be done by providing a permanent base for the child, either
through adoption or by placing it in a foster home until it comes of
age. Next, the Directors of Youth Protection will be alerting their
audience to the number of interventions required in families that are
reporting their own adolescents. Often, these parent-adolescent
conflictual situations do not call for socio-legal action and should be
dealt with by other levels of authority. Finally, the DYPs are very
concerned by the increase in the number of children suffering from
mental health problems, given the limited structure of appropriate
services in this field. The problem mainly affects children between the
ages of 6 and 12 who need to be institutionalized because the severity
of their problems requires special care and supervision.
Over the past five years, the level of reporting to
the Youth Protection Branch has increased by 21%, whereas the birthrate
is dropping. The Directors of Youth Protection are worried by this
extraordinarily rapid increase. The distress factors to which children
are subject are linked to the poverty, break-up, and isolation of
families, to a fraying social fabric, and to values that are more and
more consumer-oriented, usually to the detriment of mutual assistance
and cooperation. Moreover, the natural reflex of turning for help to the
CLSC has not been developed.
In 2003, the recorded reasons for reporting with
regard to the 28,097 children at issue broke down as follows: neglect
(53%), behavioural problems (23%), physical abuse (13%), sexual abuse
(10%) and child abandonment (1%). Twenty-five years later, the DYPs are
dealing with children who are more and more vulnerable and who have
multiple issues to resolve. It is not rare that while treating a
neglected child, one discovers that it is also suffering from physical
or sexual abuse and behavioural problems. The children's families also
need help. This requires an even more tight-knit, complementary network
and the skills of a range of professionals: physicians, CPEs, schools,
CLSCs, and community organizations, police, and deputy public
prosecutors.
It should also be pointed out that in 2003, 15,860
young offenders were provided with the services of provincial directors
(who are the same people as the DYPs) in a judicial or extra-judicial
context. Alternative justice agencies are major collaborators when
offering Alternative to Incarceration/Sentencing Option Programs.
DYPs' summary will be found in English or French
on the web site of the Association des centres jeunesse du Québec,
www.acjq.qc.ca , under the heading 25 ans de protection de l'enfance.
14 May 2004
http://www.cnw.ca/fr/releases/archive/May2004/13/c2977.html
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