Drunk coordinator just one problem at youth group home

KUUJJUAQ — Troubled children between 12 and 18 who live in Kuujjuaq’s group home and Salluit’s rehabilitation centre need protection and programs, but a report on youth protection services on Ungava Bay suggest that they’re endangered by conditions at these institutions.

The report says the Kuujjuaq group home, which has room for eight children, is disorganized, and that the coordinator “arrives back drunk when he is on call.”

The report is highly critical of the two institutions mandated to look after children placed under the Youth Protection Act and the Young Offenders Act.

“Many young people come back to sleep at the group home in a state of intoxication,” the report says.

Investigators also found two residents at the group home included a victim of abuse — and the youth’s abuser. “The only protective measure taken was to allow the victim to sleep in a room close to the staff office.”

The regional rehabilitation centre in Salluit also has many problems, says the report. The centre has 14 places for youth sent there under the Young Offenders Act.

“The lack of specialized resources can be felt at all levels,” says the report. “The treatment generally provided at the Rehabilitation Centre is not sufficient.”

Investigators found that required staff were not always present and that the centre had gone one year without a resident psychologist.

“In both the group home and rehabilitation centre, major problems are reported with recruitment, staff turnover, attendance and training.”

Investigators found major dissatisfaction on the part of staff at the rehabilitation centre. Several also admitted to personal problems or drug or alcohol addiction or being victims of conjugal violence.

They said they felt unable to advise teenagers facing the same problems. Several said they were afraid of the young people.

“Some staff members find it difficult to recognize a mental health problem, and see it more as a form of possession by a demonic spirit,” says the report.

The report also criticizes the poor physical layout of the multi-million dollar rehabilitation centre, which opened in 1999: “the fire extinguisher is accessible to young people, and one young person used it to attempt to commit suicide.”