Eastern Townships youth protection agency put under trusteeship after Granby neglect case

The youth protection agency in Quebec's Eastern Townships has been placed under trusteeship, after a case of children in neglect in Granby was made public. 

Lionel Carmant, the minister responsible for youth protection, made the announcement Thursday, saying he had to act once he learned four children were left in a neglectful home for five months while the agency, known by its French acronym, DPJ, evaluated their case.

The children, aged between five and 11, were found to be living in unsanitary conditions without access to proper care and nutrition.

According to court documents, first published in La Presse, the children often needed to have food provided for them at school and teachers on occasion had to wash the children with wet wipes because they were dirty and smelled of urine.

The case was first brought to the DPJ in February 2019, but the children didn't get an assessment until July. They have since been removed to a foster home.

"We believe there is a management problem," Carmant said, adding the DPJ in the Townships will remain under trusteeship until the problems are fixed.

"I felt like I was reliving last year," said Carmant, referring to the death of a seven-year-old girl in Granby, whose case was being followed by the DPJ.

That case prompted an inquiry, known as the Laurent Commission, into the state of youth protection services in the province. It was launched in May 2019.

Under the terms of the trusteeship, the DPJ will be overseen by the province's Ministry of Health and Social Services.

The local health authority responsible for managing the DPJ in the region, the CIUSSS de l'Estrie-CHUS, said Friday administrators are ready to collaborate.

"We're deciding to see this as additional help in order to carry out our plan of action and meet our goals," said spokesperson Annie-Andrée Émond.

Émond said they don't know who will be appointed to oversee the trusteeship, but they feel "another brain and another pair of arms will help things move faster."

'We're not seeing results'

Carmant said the government invested $65 million in the DPJ, creating 52 positions in the Eastern Townships, 47 of which were filled.

"We're not seeing results," he said, adding that the waiting list has still not gone down despite the investment.

The union representing the majority of the DPJ employees argued more permanent positions doesn't mean an infusion of new staff.

"The 47 people who were hired are people who were already working full time for the DPJ. It doesn't mean more people, it just means more positions," said Danny Roulx, union executive at APTS-Estrie.

The Laurent Commission report is expected to be made public in November 2020.