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
	1998	2008	2014
Child population	1,658,480	1,549,200	1,521,298
Number of child maltreatment investigations	25,615	28,608	31,529
Incidence of child maltreatment investigations per 1000 children	15.44	18.47	20.72

Type of Child Maltreatment Investigation in Quebec in 2014²
	#	Rate per 1,000 children	%
No Risk or Substantiated Maltreatment	8,565	5.63	27%
Confirmed Risk of Future Maltreatment	4,101	2.70	13%
Substantiated Maltreatment	18,860	12.40	60%

Categories of Substantiated Child Maltreatment Investigations in Quebec in 2014²
Category of Maltreatment	#	Rate per 1,000 children	%
Physical Abuse	4,457	2.93	19%
Sexual Abuse	732	0.48	3%
Neglect	6,127	4.03	27%
Emotional Maltreatment	2,486	1.63	11%
Behavioural Problems	4,364	2.87	19%
Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence	4,790	3.15	21%

Placement in Child Maltreatment Investigations in Quebec, 1998, 2008¹ and 2014²
	1998 #	1998 Rate	2008 #	2008 Rate	2014 #	2014 Rate
No Placement	16,776	10.12	24,238	15.65	27,221	17.89
Informal Kinship Care	-	-	780	0.50	1,664	1.09
Formal Placement	7,790	4.7	3,178	2.06	2,558	1.68
Type of Placement Unknown	834	0.50	340	0.22	--	0.04

Children and youth in out-of-home care in 2022 ³
Children in care		Child (0-17) population	Rate per 1000
15,201		1,604,195	9.48

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.

Reference List

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
La violence familiale dans la vie des enfants du Québec, 2012	2013
Étude d’incidence québécoise sur les situations évaluées en protection de la jeunesse en 2008 (ÉIQ-2008): Faits salliants	2012
Étude d’incidence québécoise sur les situations évaluées en protection de la jeunesse en 2008 (ÉIQ-2008): Rapport final	2012
Rapport d'activités	2011
Mémoire de l'ACJQ présenté à la commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse dans le cadre de la consultation sur le profilage racial et ses conséquences	2010
Mémoire de l'ACJQ: présenté à la commission des institutions sur le projet de Loi 94 «Loi établissant les balises encadrant les demandes d'accommodements dans l'administration gouvernementale et dans certains établissements»	2010
Position de l’Association des centres jeunesse du Québec devant le comité permanent de la justice et des droits de la personne Étude du projet de loi C-4 Loi modifiant la Loi sur le système de justice pénale pour les adolescents et apportant des modif	2010
Étude sur l’incidence et les caractéristiques de la maltraitance signalée à la Direction de la protection de la jeunesse au Québec. La situation en 2003.	2007
Évolution des familles négligentes : chronicité et typologie. Étude de suivi 1992 à 2005	2006
Disciplining Children in Québec: Parenting norms and practices in 2004	2005
A Longitudinal study of the effects of chronic maltreatment on children’s behavioral and emotional problems	2004
Évaluation des processus et des effets du programme IRI-Accueil du CJM-IU : Rapport final d’évaluation	2004
Risk Factors Associated With the Chronicity of High Potential for Child Abuse and Neglect	2004
Portrait des interventions visant l’insertion socioprofessionnelle et la préparation à la vie autonome dans les centres jeunesse du Québec	2003
Quebec Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse, Neglect, Abandonment and Serious Behaviour Problems (EIQ)	2002

Legislation

Links