The lack of foster families has reached a critical level in the Mauricie region, where it is difficult to know where to place children in an emergency, to the point where a three-month-old baby found himself homeless for several hours.
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The baby was eventually sent to a temporary group home.
However, in September 2021, after the intervention of Minister Lionel Carmant, the president and director general of the CIUSSS de la Mauricie-et-Centre-du-Québec had rejected the project of group homes for 0-3 year olds. According to sources, a year later, the idea resurfaced.
The CIUSSS confirmed that this was an exceptional measure. Four infants had to be placed quickly in the past few days. One of them would therefore have stayed in a group home in Trois-Rivières and a worker was dedicated to him.
“We expected temporary places and that there may be a mix of customers given the current needs. Our workers are doing their best,” said Véronique Neth, President of the Alliance of Professional and Technical Personnel in Health and Social Services (APTS) in the region.
The lack of places and host families has been present for months. Despite an campaign to enhance the role of foster families, nothing has changed. The situation is the same as a year ago.
Nearly 95% of the places are occupied in host families, and only 62 places would be available throughout the region, leaving little room for maneuver for emergencies.
“If we have a youngster from La Tuque, we cannot place him in Victoriaville. You have to have a percentage of the number of places available,” explained Geneviève Rioux, president of the Federation of Foster Families and Intermediate Resources of Quebec.
The problem, according to the Federation, is that the size of foster families has been reduced.
“Currently, we are not to find what is best for a child. We are trying to find what is less bad for the child. Lacking staff, resources is one thing, but to create a problem to save money, it starts to be more and more difficult to take on the ground, ”continued Geneviève Rioux.
A fourth group home will open in early January, but authorities maintain it will be for ages 6 to 12.