She had made previous suicide attempts, employees said, and had been placed in a locked unit alongside young offenders, despite not being one herself. Workers said Batshaw often places children at risk of suicide in locked units alongside young offenders.<\/p>\n
While the 16-year-old had\u00a0previously\u00a0been subject to round-the-clock supervision, employees\u00a0said\u00a0she\u00a0had been\u00a0taken off\u00a024-hour care after a phone interview with a psychologist.\u00a0One worker who spoke to The Gazette insisted the 16-year-old would not have died had she been kept under 24-hour supervision.<\/p>\n
There comes a point where you can only tolerate so much. <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBatshaw employee <\/p>\n
\u201cThe question is: Who do you hold accountable?\u201d a\u00a0worker asked. \u201cThe finger can keep pointing\u00a0in\u00a0every direction \u2014 up, down, sideways, everywhere \u2014 and no one takes accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Batshaw employees spoke of lapses at all levels, from employees waiting too long to meet at-risk children to managers unavailable to discuss concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere comes a point where you can only tolerate so much,\u201d a worker said.<\/p>\n
Batshaw Youth and Family Centres \u2014 which provides English-language services to children across the island of Montreal \u2014 does not report deaths to the public.\u00a0The\u00a0health authority responsible for the agency,\u00a0Sant\u00e9 Qu\u00e9bec Ouest-de-l\u2019\u00cele-de-Montr\u00e9al\u00a0Universitaire,\u00a0declined to comment\u00a0on the deaths, citing privacy rules.<\/p>\n
Batshaw informed only some workers about the deaths,\u00a0opting not to release an agency-wide memo, employees said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt led to gossiping. It led to\u00a0second-guessing the administration,\u201d an employee said. \u201cBecause it wasn\u2019t dealt with head-on, people kind of scrambled to make sense of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the March 31 death of the four-year-old girl, the agency began a blitz that saw caseworkers temporarily reassigned from their usual departments to meet vulnerable youth who\u00a0had\u00a0in\u00a0some cases\u00a0waited months for a home visit.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0caseworker\u00a0assigned to the\u00a0four-year-old\u00a0had switched departments in December 2025, employees said, but Batshaw had not yet assigned a replacement.<\/p>\n
![\"Exterior](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0717-city-batshaw_304302783.jpg\")
One of the Batshaw Youth and Family Centres buildings on Weredale Park Ave. in Montreal on Wednesday July 15, 2026. John Mahoney \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n
Other children\u00a0involved with Batshaw have died\u00a0in\u00a0recent years, including Isaiah Leopold Roach<\/a>, a 16-year-old\u00a0homicide victim whose body was found in\u00a0a farmer\u2019s field\u00a0in St-Zotique in\u00a0April 2023, weeks after he left Batshaw\u2019s Pr\u00e9vost campus without permission. Another 16-year-old died in 2024\u00a0by suicide\u00a0in\u00a0a Montreal hotel room, just days after Batshaw had closed his file.\u00a0A\u00a0recent\u00a0coroner\u2019s report<\/a>\u00a0found that Batshaw\u00a0had\u00a0not sent\u00a0workers to meet him, despite\u00a0receiving several reports about his concerning behaviour.<\/p>\n Multiple employees who spoke to The Gazette said Batshaw often closes and discards\u00a0files of children believed to be at risk\u00a0without assigning a worker\u00a0to visit their home. Batshaw did not respond to the allegation.<\/p>\n Batshaw Youth and Family Centres suffers\u00a0from\u00a0chronic staff shortages, said Jos\u00e9e Asselin, the\u00a0West Island representative for the APTS union, which\u00a0represents\u00a0many Batshaw\u00a0workers.<\/p>\n Youth protection work \u201cis emotionally demanding, so it\u2019s difficult to recruit and it\u2019s difficult to retain\u00a0personnel,\u201d she said, suggesting that improved working conditions could alleviate staff shortages.<\/p>\n Asselin\u00a0shared vacancy\u00a0figures, which report dozens of\u00a0empty\u00a0positions across Batshaw\u2019s workforce. Almost half of all social\u00a0worker\u00a0positions in the agency\u2019s Application of Measures and Evaluation and Orientation departments aren\u2019t\u00a0filled,\u00a0the figures show, with\u00a027 of 56 positions vacant as of July.<\/p>\n The issue remains that they need to improve retention. People need more training, need more mentorship.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tJos\u00e9e Asselin Droves of\u00a0workers have quit Batshaw\u2019s Application of Measures department, which supports and supervises families to ensure child welfare, Asselin\u00a0said. The department saw an average of one departure every month in 2024 and 2025, she added.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople talked a lot about excessive workload, that their professional judgement wasn\u2019t listened to, that many people didn\u2019t feel safe in certain situations,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n The employer now plans to hire for new positions, Asselin\u00a0said, adding she hoped that would alleviate some of the pressure.<\/p>\n But adding jobs won\u2019t fix the issue if Batshaw can\u2019t keep workers in the positions, she said. \u201cThe issue remains that they need to improve retention,\u201d Asselin said. \u201cPeople need more training, need more mentorship.\u201d<\/p>\n Batshaw\u00a0workers\u00a0said the\u00a0staff\u00a0shortages contribute to what they described as a general lowering of standards at the agency.<\/p>\n Many are entering positions without proper training, they said, while other employees \u2014 who often carry massive workloads \u2014 have been\u00a0caught fudging paperwork to report home visits that\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0actually take\u00a0place. <\/p>\n Workers\u00a0also blamed the arrival of centralized health authorities, which saw Batshaw\u00a0absorbed\u00a0into\u00a0the CIUSSS de\u00a0l\u2019Ouest-de-l\u2019\u00cele-de-Montr\u00e9al\u00a0in\u00a02015.<\/p>\n Since the arrival of the CIUSSS, which was recently renamed\u00a0Sant\u00e9 Qu\u00e9bec Ouest-de-l\u2019\u00cele-de-Montr\u00e9al Universitaire, \u201cmanagement is much further from the\u00a0ground,\u201d Asselin\u00a0said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are so many administrative demands. Everyone\u00a0is always doing paperwork, projects,\u00a0administrative\u00a0tasks, much more\u00a0than before,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Budgets are also managed by the health authority, Asselin\u00a0said, meaning Batshaw competes with other\u00a0institutions for funding.\u00a0Tighter budgets lead to tighter staffing, she said,\u00a0including a prohibition against taking overtime for many employees.<\/p>\n Sant\u00e9 Qu\u00e9bec\u00a0Ouest-de-l\u2019\u00cele-de-Montr\u00e9al Universitaire\u00a0declined The\u00a0Gazette\u2019s request to\u00a0interview\u00a0a\u00a0Batshaw\u00a0representative.<\/p>\n The Gazette sent the health authority a list of the allegations reported\u00a0in\u00a0this article.\u00a0In\u00a0a statement, spokesperson\u00a0H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Bergeron-Gamache didn\u2019t address any of the allegations\u00a0directly.<\/p>\n The health authority\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0comment on\u00a0individual cases, she said, but \u201cevery death\u00a0involving a child is a profoundly sad occurrence.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen a concerning situation is brought to our attention, it is subject to rigorous analysis,\u201d Bergeron-Gamache said. \u201cOver the years, the challenges faced by young people and their families have become more complex. Despite this\u00a0increased pressure, our organization is\u00a0pursuing its efforts to improve access to services, reduce wait times and support front-line\u00a0workers.\u201d<\/p>\n Help is available if you or someone you know is struggling. Call Info-Social at 811, Option 2. If you are having thoughts of suicide, call 911 or Suicide Action Montreal at\u00a01-866-277-3553<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAPTS union<\/p>\n
![\"Profile](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/jack-wilson-3-e1781038622797.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n