They seek constitutional review of provisions affecting children placed with relatives
The Fédération des familles d'accueil et ressources intermédiaires du Québec (FFARIQ) and ten families representing 19 children are filing a constitutional challenge in the Quebec Superior Court over alleged inequalities in support for children under youth protection.
The applicants are seeking judicial review of legislative and administrative provisions that they argue create two categories of children in the care of Quebec's youth protection authorities (DPJ).
Under Quebec's Youth Protection Act, authorities must prioritize placing children removed from their family environment with someone significant to them, such as a grandparent, aunt or uncle.
However, FFARIQ alleges that individuals designated as applicants for kinship foster family status (PFAP) receive substantially less support than recognized family-type resource foster families (RTF-FA), despite caring for children placed with them by the DPJ or a court.
According to FFARIQ, children placed with RTF-FAs receive structured support covering clothing, school supplies, medical care, extracurricular activities and clinical services. Children placed with PFAPs do not receive the same level of assistance.
The applicants describe cases involving relatives who received inadequate compensation during months of assessment, without retroactive payments. Other families allegedly had their contracts terminated despite court orders maintaining children in their care, forcing them to use personal savings to cover daily expenses.
Some households also reported receiving different levels of support for two children placed by the same court because an agreement existed for only one child.
FFARIQ further raised concerns about support for young people transitioning to adulthood. It said youth protection follow-up for PFAPs and family-type resource proximity foster families (RTF-FAP) ends at age 18 without additional support measures.
FFARIQ provincial president Mélanie Gagnon said relatives caring for children should receive support comparable to accredited foster families.
"When the State entrusts a child to a relative, it should support them just as much as if the child had been placed in an accredited foster family. That is not what is happening today. Reaching out to a child should not lead to the impoverishment of those who take them in, nor should it make that child a second-class child," Gagnon said.
Invoking the rights to equality and security under the Canadian and Quebec charters, the applicants ask the court to declare the challenged provisions unconstitutional and order the Quebec government to make necessary corrections.
