Batshaw Youth and Family Centres: Montreal's English-Language Foster Care Provider

When English-speaking Montrealers start researching foster care, they quickly run into a wall of French acronyms — DPJ, CIUSSS, LPJ — and a nagging question: will there be anyone at the end of the phone who speaks their language? The answer, if you live on the Island of Montreal or the West Island, is almost always the same: call Batshaw.

Batshaw Youth and Family Centres is the operating name for the youth protection and foster family services delivered by the CIUSSS de l'Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal. It is the principal English-language designated institution for child welfare in Quebec, and for most of Montreal's English-speaking and allophone communities, it is the single point of contact for everything from a first inquiry to a final placement.

What Batshaw Actually Does

Batshaw functions as the local Directeur de la protection de la jeunesse (DPJ) for English-speaking Montreal. Under the Act Respecting Health and Social Services (LSSSS), certain institutions in Quebec are officially "designated" to provide services in English — meaning they have both the legal mandate and the staffing to conduct assessments, training, and ongoing case management in English. Batshaw holds this designation for the CIUSSS de l'Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal.

In practical terms, this means Batshaw handles:

• Foster family recruitment and recognition — from the first information session through the psychosocial evaluation and formal reconnaissance (recognition) process
• Child placement coordination — matching children entering the DPJ system with appropriate foster resources
• Ongoing case management — assigning a clinical social worker to each placement, facilitating the Plan d'intervention (PI) review process, and coordinating contact between foster families and biological families
• Training delivery — providing the provincial Programme de formation des familles d'accueil (PFFA) training in English
• Youth protection investigations — receiving reports, conducting assessments under the seven-step DPJ process, and managing immediate protective measures

Batshaw is not a private agency. Foster families recognized through Batshaw are part of the provincial health network and receive compensation governed by the collective agreement between the MSSS and foster family associations.

Who Batshaw Serves

Batshaw's mandate covers English speakers across several overlapping geographic areas. The CIUSSS de l'Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal serves communities including the West Island (Dorval, Pointe-Claire, Kirkland, Vaudreuil), Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG), and adjacent municipalities. For English speakers in these areas, Batshaw is the default DPJ institution.

Beyond geography, Batshaw serves a linguistically diverse population. Many applicants are allophones — Quebecers whose mother tongue is neither English nor French — who prefer English as their language of navigation for complex administrative processes. Whether your background is West Indian, South Asian, East Asian, or Eastern European, if you function primarily in English, Batshaw is equipped to guide you through the application process without requiring French proficiency.

English speakers in other parts of Montreal, including Côte-des-Neiges or Plateau-Mont-Royal, may fall under the CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, which also maintains strong English-language services. If you are unsure which institution serves your address, call 8-1-1 (Info-Social) for a referral.

The Batshaw Foster Parent Application Process

Becoming a foster family through Batshaw follows the standard Quebec recognition process, conducted entirely in English.

Step 1 — Initial contact. Call the Batshaw Youth Protection recruitment line at 514-989-1885. A recruitment worker will confirm your eligibility and explain the process.

Step 2 — Information evening. Prospective families attend a group information session where Batshaw staff explain the DPJ's mission, the different types of placements, and what the evaluation process involves. These sessions are held in English.

Step 3 — Pre-selection interview. A brief one-on-one meeting to assess basic eligibility and motivations. This is not the full evaluation — it screens for obvious disqualifying factors and gauges commitment.

Step 4 — Document submission. You will be asked to provide: a VAE (vérification de l'absence d'empêchement — the Quebec equivalent of a criminal record check), medical clearances for all household members, financial documentation to confirm no bankruptcy within the past three years, and three personal references.

Step 5 — Psychosocial evaluation. A trained social worker from Batshaw conducts four to five in-depth home visits over several months. These meetings explore family dynamics, parenting philosophy, trauma-informed care readiness, and the type of child your household is best suited to care for. Quebec uses its own provincial assessment framework rather than the SAFE model used in other provinces.

Step 6 — Recognition committee. The evaluating social worker presents their report to an internal committee. If the committee approves, you receive formal reconnaissance — official recognition as a foster resource.

Step 7 — Contract signing. You sign a contractual agreement with the institution outlining your rights, obligations, financial compensation, and the type of placements you have agreed to accept.

The Ma Famille, Ma Communauté Program

Batshaw runs a community-based prevention program called Ma famille, ma communauté in Lachine, LaSalle, and the West Island. This program convenes "Team Decision Meetings" involving the child's family, community members (including English-language schools and social pediatrics organizations), and DPJ workers to identify the best placement option before a child formally enters the foster care system.

For English-speaking families with existing connections to a child at risk — a neighbour, a friend's child, a student — this program provides a structured entry point that many Anglophones find more culturally accessible than the formal DPJ intake process.

What Makes Batshaw Different from Other CIUSSS Institutions

In most of Quebec's 16 health regions, English-language foster care services range from "available on request" to "limited." Outside Montreal and parts of Estrie and Outaouais, a prospective foster parent may encounter French-only evaluation meetings, French-only training sessions, and French-language contractual documents with no translation available.

Batshaw is different because its English-language mandate is legally enshrined. Under the Act Respecting Health Services and Social Services, designated institutions must provide full services in English to English-speaking persons. This is not a courtesy — it is a legislative requirement. Your evaluation meetings, your training, your ongoing case reviews, and your placement discussions will all be conducted in English.

This matters not just for comfort, but for the integrity of the evaluation itself. A psychosocial assessment conducted in your second language produces a materially different result than one conducted in your primary language. Batshaw's ability to evaluate English-speaking families in English ensures the process is as accurate and fair as it is for Francophone applicants elsewhere in the province.

Getting Started with a Batshaw Foster Parent Application

If you live in Montreal and want to open your home to a child in care, the most direct step is to contact Batshaw's recruitment line at 514-989-1885. For the Child and Youth Protection Centre (DPJ intake), the number is 514-935-6196.

For families outside Montreal who need to identify which CIUSSS serves their region, the provincial government maintains a contact directory at quebec.ca. The FFARIQ (Foster Family Association of Quebec) can also connect you with regional resources and is reachable at 1-866-529-5868.

If you want a complete English-language guide to the Quebec foster care process — including the full evaluation framework, compensation rates, placement types, and your legal rights as a recognized resource — the Quebec Foster Care Guide covers the entire system in one place, written specifically for English speakers navigating the DPJ.

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