Squeegee influx

>>

by Craig Segal

The director of a group of contracted youth homes says a new wave of squeegee kids will flock to Montreal unless the provincial government backs off its plan to close 12 of the 15 homes in the Montérégie, a huge region south of the island.

Claude Morin, who is also head of the Détour youth home in Longueuil, estimates the 100 bed closures will cut off as many as 500 troubled kids from much needed support. "It's not like in the hospital, where they can re-open closed beds," Morin says. "When they close our beds, they stay closed. If we abandon these kids, they will live in the street. They will consume drugs. They will become prostitutes. It will increase suicide and street gangs. It's unacceptable."

The Centres jeunesse de la Montérégie, which announced the closures at the end of November, refuses to say the cuts are related to funding. "It's true we have some financial difficulties at Centre jeunesse," says PR rep Marie-Claude Esprimont. "But the primary reason is because we want to limit removal of kids from their families." Esprimont says 16 to 17 per cent of adolescents in the region who need help are placed in youth homes. "We want to be below average by one to two per cent."

Morin is passing around a petition to stop the closures. "We can do other things to save money, like close beds in the permanent youth homes. We can always reopen those." Call (450) 442-1679 for info.