A foster family is demanding more than half a million dollars from the Integrated Health and Social Services Center (CISSS) of Lanaudière due to the “mistreatment” and “neglect” allegedly suffered in the months following her birth, a little girl accompanied by workers from the Youth Protection Department (DPJ).
The duty was able to consult this application initiating proceedings before the Superior Court of Quebec filed last Friday at the Joliette courthouse and signed by family law lawyer Anne-France Goldwater, who has more than 40 years of experience.
The document tells the story of a little girl, currently aged less than four years, who was the subject of a report to the DPJ in 2021, since her biological mother did not have the capacity to care for her. her due to an intellectual disability. The child was then placed in a foster family with five other toddlers who were allegedly mistreated there, the household that took them in being unable to meet their needs, alleges the couple of plaintiffs behind this lawsuit, whose identity is no. was not disclosed to preserve that of the little girl, who is protected by the court.
“These children were deprived of care, food and supervision by their foster parents, who were clearly overworked, to the extent that several suffered bodily harm,” write the plaintiffs, who are now caring for the toddler. in their home, located in a town in Lanaudière.
The little girl thus remained for three and a half months in a home where she was poorly fed, alleges the couple, who deplore that a DPJ worker who had visited the accommodation where the little girl lived in 2021 alongside several other children would then have noted no deficiency in the treatment reserved for the young child. “It is developing well and no difficulties have been observed at the moment. She is following her growth curve well and responds to the development courses of a baby her age,” this speaker said in writing.
This DPJ report was subsequently deemed “contradictory” in 2022 by Court of Quebec judge Luc Joly, who instead concluded that “the environment where the child was entrusted was not adequate” for her needs, in view of the report of a pediatrician from the Joliette hospital who had consulted her after her removal from this foster family. “Clearly, the [DPJ] did not act in the best interests of the child,” concluded Judge Joly, who rendered another decision in this case earlier this year.
The couple thus alleges that the DPJ of Lanaudière “deliberately turned a blind eye” to the basic needs of the little girl, who “was left in an environment where children were left to their own devices, without supervision and without food, without “none of these breaches are noted” by the organization, the lawsuit claims.
“It was a nightmare and it was the little one who paid for it,” notes one of the two applicants, in an interview with Duty Tuesday.
Fragile health
After being the subject of a report for “physical abuse”, the little girl was removed from her first foster family. She was then welcomed briefly in two other homes before being entrusted at the end of 2021 to the couple from Lanaudière, who had informed the DPJ of their wish to be able to adopt a child, of whom they would be responsible until the child was reached. of adulthood.
However, the couple would not have been informed by the DPJ of the fragile state of health of the little girl, before welcoming her into their home. “The plaintiffs then quickly realized that the placement would far from take place as announced by the DPJ, the child requiring numerous medical care for the entirety of his life,” notes the lawsuit.
The DPJ subsequently posed “numerous obstacles to obtaining necessary health care” by the little girl, alleges the couple, who deplore in particular that the organization waited almost a month before authorizing an operation which had to be carried out urgently on the child.
Then, earlier this year, workers from the Lanaudière DPJ accompanied by two police officers came to the applicants’ home “to remove the child by force”, and without warning the couple in advance. “Victims of flagrant procedural abuses and obvious bad faith, the plaintiffs called on the undersigned lawyers to ensure that the child could reintegrate into their environment, which was the one that best met his needs,” the lawsuit states.
“For us, she’s like our daughter. We take care of it like the apple of our eye; we offer him all medical services. And for us, to have her taken away like that by the police, it was like having our child kidnapped. […]. We were demolished,” confides one of the plaintiffs behind this lawsuit.
Custody validated by the court
The couple then obtained a judgment this year from the Court of Quebec ruling that they could take care of the little girl until she was 18 years old.
“The plaintiffs therefore submit that the conduct of the DPJ was not only negligent, but also malicious, considering that its actions were only justified by its resentment towards [d’un des demandeurs] and that these had a direct impact on the well-being of the child,” the suit adds. When the little girl returned to the couple’s home, the latter then noticed that she had lost weight, had stopped smiling and constantly wanted to be at the couple’s side, “obviously afraid of abandonment”.
“She has changed environments so much that she is completely destabilized,” sighs one of the applicants.
The couple is thus claiming a total of $558,000 in moral and punitive damages from the CISSS de Lanaudière, a sum which includes $105,000 aimed at compensating for the “legal injury” experienced by the child, who was found for several months in a first foster family “unable to meet his needs”. The couple is also demanding financial compensation of $100,000 for the anguish they experienced when the DPJ withdrew their access to the little girl for several months, as well as more than $163,000 incurred in legal costs. lawyers until now, among other damages claimed.
The CISSS de Lanaudière did not want to comment on this judicial case on Tuesday.