Timidly, the Ministry of Health and Social Services recently released its new Perinatal and Early Childhood Action Plan. With the last policy dealing with this period of life having lapsed since 2018, to say that this action plan was expected is an understatement. This is all the more true since the stakeholders involved participated in large numbers in the consultations with a view to its development, consultations which stretched over several years. With constancy and conviction, their voices were raised for the well-being of unborn babies, growing children and the parents who love them.
It is therefore difficult for us to understand why this much-hoped-for plan was made public by simple press release, a few hours before the long Easter holiday, as if we were trying not to publicize its publication.
However, the reading is enjoyable in many respects. Several structuring elements of the plan reflect sometimes a marked commitment to innovation and prevention, sometimes a careful reading of what can represent a risk factor for parents.
Although this may seem obvious to many, we must recognize the progress represented by the strong bias towards the “participation of the mother and father, co-parent or significant other throughout the perinatal trajectory and early childhood “.
Likewise, we rightly evoke the importance of acting according to the principles of proportionate universalism, and the addition of the term “early childhood” makes concrete the importance of thinking of perinatality as a continuum that does not end. after childbirth. However, particular attention must be paid to avoid duplication, particularly when it comes to national, regional or local consultation.
In addition, we feel the sincere desire to take into account the effects of the accumulation of vulnerabilities for certain families. In detail, however, it must be admitted that the measures seem to underestimate the complexity that this entails in the provision of services.
And it is precisely when we look at the details of the action plan that we can imagine the fears that supported such a communication strategy. Indeed, the measures in the action plan are generally vague and not very detailed. Unfortunately, carefully browsing the document does not allow a more precise understanding of the proposed avenues.
We note that a high proportion of the measures begin with the verbs “adapt”, “facilitate”, “foster”, “make known”, “raise awareness”, “initiate a reflection”, “value”, “disseminate” or “promote “. These are undoubtedly action verbs, but their scope is often limited to the field of communications. However, without new investments or consolidation of the means already in place, the dissemination and promotion of the various actions of the plan risk not having the expected effects.
In this regard, it is distressing to have no details on the investments associated with these new measures. With the Quebec budget having been unveiled, the publication of the action plan represented an ideal moment for the government to illustrate, with supporting figures, the strength of its convictions on the matter. The budgetary context is already undermining certain aspirations of groups dedicated to these issues; the lack of information regarding the investments made contributes to further tarnishing their prospects.
In short, it seems that nothing can justify trying to ignore such an important component of our public policies. After all, it concerns the arrival in this world of tomorrow’s citizens, the healthy development of our little ones and the well-being of their parents. We understand the ambivalence, incomprehension or disappointment of several organizations that participated in the consultations and evolve on a day-to-day basis in the spheres of action of perinatal and early childhood in Quebec.
It is normal to question the motivations behind this communication strategy. It seems that by doing so, we have unfortunately made it difficult to have a favorable reception of the action plan, while making possible a series of conjectures as to the real interest the government has in it. Let’s hope it’s just an awkward moment, we have so much to do together.