Due to the lack of foster families in Montreal, the brothers were separated

A shortage of foster homes in Montreal is keeping siblings apart, those working in the system say.

“When I'm really upset, I can't keep my siblings together,” explains Marie-Pierre Ulisse Batchau with the Youth and Family Center. “When I have a sibling group of three kids… (they're) divided into three foster homes, three territories.”

Ulysses, one of two foster care managers at Batshaw, says he worries about how the brothers' separation could affect them in the long run.

“We know that siblings are very supportive of each other when it comes to custody,” she told CTV News. “They have mutual guarantees. So it's very difficult and difficult for the children.”

Ulysse says that the system will try to merge them as soon as possible, but this is very rare.

“We don't have enough resources. “Our children are on the list, and if they remain in care, we will try to reunite them later,” he explains. “My system isn't that fast. I usually don't put them together that fast.”

Need more family

Ulisse says that in an ideal world, he would like to approve 25 more families for a “permanent” foster care program where children can be temporarily placed with the goal of returning them to their birth parents.

“Children come to us every day,” he lamented. “Many babies are coming out of the hospital. I have many young children to take care of.'

Batshaw currently has around 330 homes in all patronage categories.

“Our clients are very multicultural, and when we match children with foster homes, we try to match them with foster homes that are similar to their birth homes,” adds Ulisse.

Unlike conventional adoptions, the waiting list for adoptees is long.

“These are people who want to do a lifelong project with kids, so the clients we match with those families are the kids who technically aren't going back home (to their birth parents),” Ulisse explains.

He says Indigenous, Black and Latino children are currently overrepresented in the system.

“I need as many foster homes as possible from all communities because these children are your children and they deserve the protection of all children,” Ulisse said.

Why adopt?

For Bisma Ansari, becoming a foster parent came after years of trying to conceive.

“I researched how I could be a mother,” she tells CTV News. “I happened to hear about foster care on the radio, and again, knowing that there are kids right here who need that kind of support, and it made me think, maybe that's what I would do.” Be a mother. It was great.”

Ansari, who is also co-president of the board of directors of the Batshaw Foundation for Youth and Family Centers, says she is shocked to learn how many children need homes.

“Welcoming new little faces into your home is difficult, but also loving and rewarding,” she said. “It's also difficult, of course, when they leave, because there are connections. But it's always for the long-term good, so it's emotionally difficult.”

It has been four years since she applied to become an emergency foster carer.

“We're here to provide a safe place, a happy place for a child to be a child, and we can help give them the best opportunities available to us and teach them the best way we can,” he said.

To find out more about Batshaw Youth and Family Centers or to book a patronage visit, click here.