Marie-Claude Simard

Marie-Claude Simard, Ph. D., is a researcher at the Centre de recherche universitaire sur les jeunes et les familles (CRUJeF) of the Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux (CIUSSS) de la Capitale-Nationale, adjunct professor in the Département des sciences humaines et sociales at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC) and adjunct professor at the École de psychologie of the Université Laval. A social worker by training, her interests centre on issues related to family, childhood and youth protection. Her work addresses the youth protection system as a whole and practice within it, particularly practice involving young people in out-of-home care. Her research seeks to document their characteristics, the difficulties they face, their needs and the services available to them. She is also interested in the service trajectories of young people in care and in their optimal development. She has in-depth knowledge of the mechanisms linking research and practice settings in youth protection.