New rules to reduce time spent in foster care put onus on parents

Delinquent parents in Quebec will have to hurryto get theirlives in order if they hopetohave their removed children returned to them, under new rules that take effect in the province in July.

Under the amended law, toddlerstwo and under who are removed from abusive homes by youth protection agencies can spend no more than one year in foster care before a final decision is made about their custody.

The rules for older children will be stricter too, withsix- to 12-year-olds being limited to no more than two years in foster care.

The new law is being introduced to try to minimize the disruption and uprooting endured by children who are taken from their families of origin for their own protection.

Children reported to youth protection services are often movedfrom one foster home to the next, and can spend years navigating the system while their parents seek treatment or try to improve their circumstances enough to care for their offspring.

The foster care deadlines are an attempt toreverse thattrend, said Michael Godman, a director at Batshaw Youth and Family Service Centres in Montreal.

"If you look at every dimension of human development, these children who move frequently during these important years when their brains are developing rapidly, we contribute to destroying them as opposed to helping them," he told CBC.

But Quebec still faces a shortage of foster homes, Godman added. The desire to adopt is much stronger among Quebecers than the willingness to take troubled children into their homes.

Reported abuse stable

Quebec's 16 Youth Protection Agencies say the number of abuse cases reported to authorities stabilized in the last year. In 2006-2007 there were 67,792 reported cases, a slight drop of 0.3 per cent.

But the number of cases reported in economically-depressed regions such as the Gaspé and the Saguenay are rising faster than the average.

In most cases, the reported abuse is negligence by dysfunctional parents who abuse alcohol, have drug addictions or are mentally deficient.