What We Do

Youth Protection interventions

By virtue of the Youth Protection Act (YPA), the Director of Youth Protection (DYP) of Batshaw Youth and Family Centres (Batshaw Centres):

• receives and processes reports (signalements) coming from the general population or professionals informing her that a child may be in need of protection:
• decides whether a child?s security and/or development is endangered;
• decides on the orientation of the child?s situation (measures to be taken to correct the situation on a voluntary basis or ordered by the Court);
• ensures that the voluntary or court-ordered measures are applied and followed by professionals;
• reviews all situations and decides whether the file can be closed.

This part of our mission addresses the needs of children and youths for whom it is believed that their security or development may be endangered. The role of the DYP is to put an end to the situation and prevent recurrence.

Young Offender interventions

By virtue of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), Batshaw Centres is responsible for the following:

• decide whether young persons (between the ages of 12 and 17) can be part of the Extrajudicial Sanctions Program in situations where it is not necessary for them to appear before a judge;
• at the judge?s request, prepare a report in situations where the young persons have been found guilty in order to help the judge decide on the most appropriate sentence;
• supervise court-ordered measures;
• provide follow-up to young persons under probation or community supervision, as well as in open or closed custody.

This part of our mission is addressed to young offenders and their family, in partnership with the community.

Providing placement settings

Batshaw Centres has the responsibility to develop, support and maintain a network of diverse placement settings. They are:

• family-type or intermediate resources;
• community group homes;
• residential rehabilitation units.

This part of our mission is destined to children and youths in need of substitute living arrangements by virtue of the laws that entrust us with this responsibility (YPA, YCJA and An Act Respecting Health Services and Social Services). The situations can also be referred by the Centres de santé et de services sociaux (CSSS) of the island of Montreal. Batshaw Centres also offers rehabilitation placement services to English-speaking youths from all regions of Quebec.

Offering specialized services

Batshaw Centres provides evaluations and psychosocial interventions in the following matters:

• adoption;
• adoption disclosure (biological antecedents and search for adoption records);
• reunification (of birth child and parent);
• family mediation;
• expertise to Superior Court related to child custody.

These services are specific to certain client groups of children, youths, adults and families presenting particular needs.

Batshaw Centres also operates a Health Services Clinic for its clients.

Intervening in an urban, multiracial and multicultural environment

Taking into consideration that we intervene daily with an urban population made up of a great variety of ethnic and cultural communities, Batshaw Centres has developed a heightened sensitivity to the sociocultural dimension of its interventions.

In 1995, we adopted a Commitment to racial and cultural equality which has been reviewed on a regular basis. Over time, we have established a high level of vigilance to ensure that our services are able to respond to the specific needs of the many ethnic and cultural communities we serve.

Our Executive Director is accountable for our relationships with cultural communities. She is supported by an advisory committee which has the exclusive responsibility of monitoring our policies and practices to ensure that they are racially and culturally sensitive.

Intervening with partners

Batshaw Centres values its work with many community, institutional, intersectorial and university partners in carrying out its mandate.

We are particularly proud of the partnership we established a few years ago with McGill University?s Centre for Research on Children and Families. By virtue of this agreement we are constantly improving our ability to link daily practice to the most recent and valid research in the fields of social work and child welfare. In this way, we respect our commitment that our interventions are founded on evidence-based research.