DPJ software linked to the death of a child will be revised “by the fall”
The software implicated in the death of a 22-month-old toddler in Saguenay in 2016 will be revised "by next fall," indicated the Minister Delegate for Health and Social Services and responsible for Youth Protection Directorates (DPJ), Lionel Carmant.
The program Enquête revealed on Thursday failures in the software called the Practice Support System (PSS), used by the DPJ in assessing the situation of children. This system was implicated in the death of a 22-month-old toddler in Saguenay in 2016.
Reacting to the report, Health Minister Danielle McCann promised to review this software. On the 24/60 program on Friday, the Minister Delegate for Health and Social Services and responsible for the DPJ, Lionel Carmant, echoed his colleague's comments and indicated that it would be done "by next fall."
"As Ms. McCann says, we are reviewing the software. We need something. We are working to improve it in terms of its clinical competence, but if we see that we are not succeeding, we will have to think about replacing it," he said.
The Minister Delegate nevertheless underlines the importance of this software. "We need something to standardize the collection of information. That's why we need a tool to manage reports," he says.
The clinical decision
But for him, the clinical decision of the interveners must take precedence over the software. “The most important thing is the clinical decision […] So what we have been doing since the beginning is giving them more clinical space, more clinical support. Moreover, in January 2019, we added money for clinical support,” he said.
The Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse, which investigated the toddler's death, concluded in 2018 that the software should be revised. That's more than a year ago.
