News

Longueuil – The APTS (Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux) welcomes this week’s announcement by the DPJ (Director of Youth Protection) that it plans to reduce the use of rehabilitation centres for 6- to 12-year-old children. Choosing to prioritize living environments on a more human scale, such as group homes and foster families, is a highly commendable objective.

“We’re in favour of this approach because it aligns with the recommendations of the Laurent Commission, which called for living environments with a more human dimension and that are more adapted to children’s needs,” said APTS president Robert Comeau. “That said, serious planning will be required to make the reform effective.”

The APTS is worried that there may be increased pressure on targeted accommodation resources. It argues that developing group homes and increasing the number of foster families must be done responsibly, in settings that are truly adapted to the diversity of young people’s profiles. This includes young people living with mental health or substance abuse issues or major adjustment problems.

“This also means that appropriate training is needed to ensure safe, high-quality interventions,” added Sébastien Pitre, APTS officer for youth centres. “We have to make sure that concrete, well-supervised and well-funded solutions are implemented for both group homes and foster families. Otherwise, we could end up just moving problems to a different location instead of solving them, which would harm both young people and workers on the ground.”

The APTS also emphasized the importance of organizing work in a way that is adapted to the multiplication of different living environments in a context affected by the labour shortage and the housing crisis. “This reform must be carried out in cooperation with teams on the ground,” said Robert Comeau. “Their expertise must be acknowledged, and issues of safety, clinical orientation, training, and service continuity must be addressed. This condition must be met if we want to improve the services we provide for children and families.”

The APTS

The APTS (Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux) represents more than 68,000 members who play a key role in ensuring that health and social services institutions run smoothly. Our members provide a wide range of services for all Quebecers, including diagnostic, rehabilitation, nutrition, psychosocial intervention, clinical support, and prevention services.