Groups of parents angry with the DPJ are multiplying on social networks and complicating the work of the workers. Parents unknowingly record them to post this content in online groups where they are called “child kidnappers”. Conspiracy requires, some Internet users even firmly believe that the DPJ is a “child trafficking network”.
The publication, on the Facebook group, is incendiary. The Internet user denounces a worker involved in his child’s case, giving her name. “Liar and accomplice in stealing children from foster families […]. The host family to pay their karma, I hope that this one, accomplice, will pay it very soon,” we read in the publication (which we have not edited).
A few days earlier, in the same group, another Internet user had also reported her own case. “Can you believe the social worker lies like she breathes!” »
The DPJ, adds another member of the group in a subsequent publication, “is a machine for crushing our families. It’s nice to write here, ventilate, but it would be even better to take concerted action across the entire province.
“Three quarters of the files [de la DPJ] are false,” denounces another member of the group. “The DPJ is a commercial child trafficking enterprise, disguised as a public service. »
These aggressive comments, mixed with conspiracy, are legion in the numerous groups bringing together parents angry with the DPJ. Some have nearly 20,000 members.
Parents publish reports written on their children’s cases, notes, photos, file extracts, recordings made during their exchanges with DPJ workers. Sometimes including the names of the speakers and even the children.
In theory, the files of children monitored by the DPJ are nevertheless confidential.
“A sword of Damocles”
These groups, estimate the twenty workers and managers we interviewed, increase the anger of certain parents tenfold. “In these groups, the parents push each other on and that increases anger. Parents are recording more and more, filming more and more, and are ignoring confidentiality,” notes a speaker.
Some Internet users act as advisors, recommending that they record everything and publish everything on social networks, underlines Jennifer, a highly experienced speaker who works in the region. “Parents get into this trap because they are sad, they are not happy with what they are going through, and they think it is the only solution,” she says.
I put myself in the place of someone who has lost their child, who is at the end of their resources, it’s their way of relieving themselves of guilt: it’s not my fault, it’s that of the DPJ.
Jennifer, DPJ worker
Being recorded, in audio or video, has therefore become commonplace, says all the people we interviewed. In many cases, parents have attempted to file the recordings in court, and lawyers for some health care facilities have warned their staff that this would, in theory, be possible.
“It’s a sword of Damocles hanging over your head. I must not lose my composure, I must be perfect because I may be recorded,” says Marie, who works in the greater Montreal area. “It’s easy for a parent to take a single minute of the intervention, a sentence out of context and have it work against us,” adds Alice, who also works in Montreal. “I was afraid it would harm my reputation, my career, even though I have always worked well. Public opinion is rarely on the side of the DPJ…” adds Sara, who works in the region.
The consequences of these publications are sometimes very concrete. Justine, who also works in the region, was filmed during an intervention and the video was broadcast on social networks. “There were clear threats in the comments. The name of the town where I lived. My house was for sale at the time. The police asked me to remove the ad because a relative followed me to the town where I lived. »
Our daily life is to be followed by car, to be found by social networks.
Justine, DPJ worker
Justine went on leave in 2022, following several violent events.
Two years of harassment
And some of these parents are extremely persistent. They come up regularly, in many different forums, and attack speakers over very long periods of time. Jennifer suffered the wrath of such a cantankerous parent for nearly two years, a parent who repeatedly posted recordings of her and made aggressive comments.
This episode literally undermined her, she says. “At the beginning, we say to ourselves: it will pass, it’s part of the work, but at a certain point our families recognize us, it’s guilt, it’s shame, it’s also fear because it There are clients at the youth center who are aggressive. Who will have seen this? What will this generate? Am I in danger? Is my family in danger? What will she think of all this? »
Complaints have multiplied against her, at all levels. Each time, she was cleared. The parent did not stop: he attacked other workers and the head of department. After two years of constant harassment, Jennifer broke down: she ended up on sick leave.
One day, I will no longer be able to do this job. I feel like I’m a criminal, that I have to hide as if I were a pedophile, even though I’m a youth protection worker.
Jennifer, DPJ worker
Some comments made on social networks are extremely threatening. Julie, a very experienced worker who works in the Montreal region, remembers the comments of a parent who said, with the DPJ, “to rely on batting technique”. “I have a baseball bat in the entryway. And I can use it. »
Since the pandemic, conspiracy has made things even worse. “When they are truly convinced that we are selling children to the pedophile elite… what can you say to defend yourself? »
But in extreme cases, the CISSS and CIUSSS can intervene. “In one of the groups, a parent suggested that we should call the perpetrator of a mass shooting to come to our office. This time I took screenshots and the direction [du CISSS] reacted. All those involved told management that this did not make common sense. But that’s the problem, we always have to get angry for there to be a reaction,” says Rachelle, who has worked in the region for almost seven years. The CISSS in question ended up filing a police complaint against the parent.
“On a few occasions”, formal notices were even sent to demand the removal of videos identifying speakers, or mentioning their names, tell us the CISSS de la Montérégie-Est and the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de. -Montreal Island.
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