Greater Quebec City: a cry from the heart of the DPJ

Struggling with a serious shortage of personnel, the Directorates of Youth Protection (DPJ) of the Capitale-Nationale and Chaudière-Appalaches sounded the alarm during their annual report this morning.

• Read also: Confidence in the DPJ must be restored, according to an expert

The director of the Chaudière-Appalaches DPJ, Caroline Brown, estimates that she has 30 positions to fill, or 35% of her staff.

The situation is such that this summer, around thirty people from the education sector – also under pressure in terms of the workforce – were called in as reinforcements.

Patrick Corriveau, director of youth protection at the CIUSSS de la Capitale-Nationale, also talks about thirty positions to be filled. Employees from other sectors of the CIUSSS were called upon to fill in the breaches.

“Concretely currently we are making choices within our organization (…) it is not that the services are no longer given, but when we establish priorities, the deadlines can be longer in other sectors », Explained Mr. Corriveau.

“I think that we do not have the luxury in Quebec to deprive ourselves of this prevention (the DPJ). It is necessary to make the choice on the other hand. It is a bit of a cry from the heart that we are launching today. We must make it our priority, even if it comes with heartbreaking choices, ”said Mr.^me Brown.

The recruitment of foster families is also problematic, insisted Mr. Corriveau.

Balance sheet

The Capitale-Nationale DPJ processed 10,624 reports over the past year, an increase of 1.6%.

The number of retained reports is stable, 4,183, two more than in 2019-2020.

In Chaudière-Appalaches, the reports processed, 6,665, are up 8.8%. There were 2,521 retained cases, an increase of 6.7%.

For Quebec as a whole, there were 117,904 reports processed in 2020-2021, or 400 less than the previous year (-0.35%).

However, the number of retained reports increased by 2.7%, or 44,728.

More details to come …

SEE ALSO …