Court raps Batshaw for neglect of two foster kids
Social services agency neglected needs of two children placed in care, judge rules
Batshaw Youth and Family Centres has had its knuckles rapped for keeping two neglected children in a dirty foster home that had bed bugs, cockroaches and an absent foster mother.
The foster mother was often out in the evening, the children had to occasionally fend for themselves at suppertime and there was insufficient homework help, according to a judgment by Quebec Court Judge Annie Savard.
Youth protection had removed the children from their biological mother’s home several years earlier because she had been abusing drugs, was financially unstable and suffered from depression.
She went to court in 2016 to try to regain custody of her children, age 11 and 13, saying she had turned her life around and was in a stable relationship.
The judge agreed, and the children have left the foster home and now live with their mother.
During the time her children were in foster care, she complained repeatedly to a Batshaw social worker and the foster mother about unsanitary conditions in the foster home and that the children were often left alone.
According to the biological mother, the children did not wash daily, there were bed bugs in their room and the sheets weren’t changed regularly.
When she complained to staff at Batshaw, the biological mother said she was told the situation was being taken care of and she should not complain too much and risk having the children separated, according to testimony she gave at a court hearing last year.
The foster mother admitted she had a bed bug problem over a twoyear period despite attempts to get rid of them.
She denied she left the children alone during the week, saying she left them only on weekends while she attended church functions.
She eventually moved to a more sanitary apartment.
The oldest child told the judge she often had to cook for the younger sibling and said they spent a lot of time unsupervised.
Sometime after 2013, a social worker sent a resource department educator to the home to help the foster mother establish homework routines, academic support, household organization and consequences for inappropriate behaviour.
Under Quebec’s Youth Protection Act, children must be placed in an appropriate home where their needs and rights are respected.
In her judgment, Savard wrote that Batshaw “did not offer the children an appropriate living environment that met their needs.”
Savard concluded the children were neglected because they were kept in a messy home with bed bugs and cockroaches. The foster mother also failed to provide proper supervision because she was often out at night, the judge said.
“(Batshaw) allowed the situation of negligence to continue and did not offer the children adequate services,” Savard wrote in her judgment.
“They were not listening to the children and their mother.”
By insisting the children remain with someone “significant in their eyes” — the foster mother — Batshaw “neglected to respond to the children’s basic needs,” the judge concluded.
The social worker told the judge the recurring problems in the foster care network are due to a lack of organization and a reluctance to move children out of foster homes once they are settled.
In her judgment, Savard recommended Batshaw carefully review the case and learn from the mistakes.
A lawyer for the biological mother said the case shows that youth protection organizations must be more vigilant when assessing foster families.
“They have to maintain certain standards,” Jean-Hervé Thomas said.
Thomas said he was happy with the judgment.
“The mother has sorted out her issues and she wanted her children back,” he said. “This is what the children wanted as well.”
Batshaw is responsible for providing social and youth protection services for the anglophone community.
Every year, about 700 children and youth live in its foster homes.
Batshaw refused to comment on the case.