Nunavik DPJ workers are sounding the “alarm bell” and asking the government to “take immediate measures” to better protect children.
“Some children have been in 10 different foster homes in 14 days,” Roxanne Palardy of the Hudson’s Bay Dispensary Workers Union said in a press release issued Wednesday by the Federation of Health and Social Services. social services (FSSS-CSN).
“Two children were even victims of physical abuse, because for lack of foster families, they had to be returned to the family from which they had been removed,” adds Ms. Palardy.
“Will another child under the responsibility of the DPJ die for action to be taken? “, she is alarmed.
The problem, says the union, is the lack of foster families and child care spaces currently plaguing the villages of Hudson’s Bay. This situation means that “the well-being of the children can no longer be ensured by the local DYP. »
The union speaks of an “intolerable” and “out of control” situation that has persisted for more than two months.
According to the information provided in the press release, the situation is so critical that the social workers of the DPJ must now take care of the children in their own offices, a place “inadequate for their development”. The union says they had up to 7 children under the age of 5 in their office.
This situation inevitably leads to delays in other files, adds the union. “This gives rise to an escalation of the problems where almost every case becomes urgent, opening the door to explosive situations where the DYP can no longer ensure the protection of children who must remain in families where they are at risk of mistreatment. »
According to the FSSS, discussions have taken place with the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services to “find solutions”, but “nothing is moving”, we are assured.
At the time of going online on Wednesday, the communications team of the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services had not responded to the request of the To have to.