Quebec

For more information, please see the information sheet on Quebec's child welfare system.

Overview

The Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services (Ministère de la Santé et Services sociaux) is responsible for providing protection services to children and youth in accordance with the mandate outlined in the Youth Protection Act. There are currently 16 Youth Centres (YC) and three multi-mission centres across the province.  Both of these centres are responsible for services under the Youth Protection Act as well as the Youth Criminal Justice Act (2002). In each centre, there is a director of youth protection (DYP) who is responsible for enforcing the Youth Protection Act. The DYP also has the powers of a provincial director under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. In the youth protection system in Quebec, the intervention process consists of the following stages: receiving and processing a report (intake), evaluating the situation (investigation), orienting the child (intervention planning), and implementing interventions and reviewing the situation. These stages are carried out in separate administrative units, except for the evaluation and orientation stages which are carried out by the same workers.

There are several First Nations and Inuit child welfare agencies across the province which serve children living on reserve. First Nations and Inuit children living off reserve or in regions without a designated First Nations Child and Family Service Agency are served through local DYP offices. First Nations Child Welfare Agencies in Quebec are required to uphold the Youth Protection Act.

Statistics
Child Maltreatment Investigations in Quebec, 1998, 20081 and 20142
 199820082014
Child population1,658,4801,549,2001,521,298
Number of child maltreatment investigations25,61528,60831,529
Incidence of child maltreatment investigations per 1000 children15.4418.4720.72
Type of Child Maltreatment Investigation in Quebec in 20142
 #Rate per
1,000 children
No Risk or Substantiated Maltreatment 8,5655.63
Confirmed Risk of Future Maltreatment4,1012.70
Substantiated Maltreatment18,86012.40
Categories of Substantiated Child Maltreatment Investigations in Quebec in 20142
Category of Maltreatment#Rate per
1,000 children
Physical Abuse4,4572.93
Sexual Abuse7320.48
Neglect6,1274.03
Emotional Maltreatment2,4861.63
Behavioural Problems4,3642.87
Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence4,7903.15
Placement in Child Maltreatment Investigations in Quebec, 1998, 20081 and 20142
 1998 #1998 Rate2008 #2008 Rate2014 #2014 Rate
No Placement16,77610.1224,23815.6527,22117.89
Informal Kinship Care--7800.501,6641.09
Formal Placement7,7904.73,1782.062,5581.68
Type of Placement Unknown8340.503400.22--0.04
Children and youth in out-of-home care in 2022 3
Children in out-of-home care Child (0-17) populationRate per 1000
15,201 1,604,1959.48

External Statistics Links

Child welfare services fall under the jurisdiction of provincial and territorial authorities, making it difficult to compile statistics at the national level.

The most notable variations between provinces include, mandate variation by jurisdiction with respect to the age to which children are eligible for service, differences in the length of time a child can receive out-of-home care and the definition of out-of-home care.

References

1 Hélie, S., Turcotte, D., Trocmé, N., & Tourigny, M. (2012). Étude d’incidence québécoise sur les situations évaluées en protection de la jeunesse en 2008: Rapport final (p. 252). Montreal, QC: Centre jeunesse de Montréal-Institut universitaire. https://cwrp.ca/fr/publications/etude-dincidence-quebecoise-sur-les-situations-evaluees-en-protection-de-la-jeunesse.

2 Hélie, S., Collin-Vézina, D.,Turcotte, D., Trocmé, N., & Girouard, N. (2017). Étude d’incidence québécoise sur les situations évaluées en protection de la jeunesse en 2014: Rapport final. Montreal, QC: Centre jeunesse de Montréal-Institut universitaire. https://cwrp.ca/publications/quebec-incidence-study-2014-eiq-2014-final-report.

3 Pollock, N., Ouédraogo, A., Trocmé, N., Hovdestad, W., Miskie, A., Crompton, L., Campeau, A., Tanaka, M., Zhang, C., Laprise, C., Tonmyr, L. (2024) Original quantitative research – Rates of out-of-home care among children in Canada: an analysis of national administrative child welfare data. Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada (44)4. https://doi.org/10.24095/hpcdp.44.4.02

Reports
Title Year
Étude d’incidence Québécoise sur les enfants évalués en protection de la jeunesse entre 1998 et 2019 (ÉIQ-2019): Faits saillants
Étude d’incidence Québécoise sur les enfants évalués en protection de la jeunesse entre 1998 et 2019 (ÉIQ-2019): Rapport final
Quebec Incidence Study of Children Investigated by Youth Protection Services in 2019 (QIS-2019): Executive Summary
VOLET PREMIÈRES NATIONS de l’Étude d’incidence québécoise sur les situations évaluées en protection de la jeunesse en 2019 - ÉIQ /PN-2019
The system is "broken": concrete actions are needed to end systemic discrimination
Étude d’incidence québécoise sur les situations évaluées en protection de la jeunesse en 2014 (ÉIQ-2014): Portrait provincial
Étude d’incidence québécoise sur les situations évaluées en protection de la jeunesse en 2014 (ÉiQ-2014): Faits saillants
Étude d’incidence québécoise sur les situations évaluées en protection de la jeunesse en 2014 (ÉIQ-2014): Annexes
Quebec Incidence Study 2014 (ÉIQ-2014): Final Report
Analysis of the Trajectories of Young First Nations subject to the Youth Protection Act: Component 3: Analysis of mainstream youth protection agencies administrative data
Analyse des trajectoires des jeunes des Premières Nations assujettis à la Loi sur la protection de la jeunesse Rapport D'Analyse VOLET 1: Analyse des données finançières et clientèles d'AADNC
Analyse des trajectoires des jeunes des Premières Nations assujettis à la Loi sur la protection de la jeunesse Rapport D'Analyse VOLET 2: Analyse des données des rapports statistiques AS-480
Analyse des trajectoires des jeunes des Premières Nations assujettis à la Loi sur la protection de la jeunesse: Rapport Synthèse
Analysis of the Trajectories of Young First Nations subject to the Youth Protection Act: Component 1: Analysis of AANDC financial and client data
Analysis of the Trajectories of Young First Nations subject to the Youth Protection Act: Component 2: Analysis of data from the AS-480 statistical reports
Legislation
Links