The Quebec auditor’s report into procedures at the Laval Youth Centre states that there was no wrongdoing in a series of teen runaways.

Commissioned last month, the 38-page report by Auditor André Labeaume did not lay any blame, and said the Youth Centre was following all standard provincial regulations.

“In Laval, they respected all the procedures that were in place for Quebec,” concluded Youth Protection Minister Lucie Charlebois.

Labeaume pointed out that runaways happen at all youth centres in the province, and he recommended several changes in how youth centres operate.

Since the runaways began, the Youth Centre in Laval has stopped giving children in and out privileges, meaning they have less access to their smart phones than they used to.

Labeaume submitted the results of his month-long investigation to the province's Youth Minister last week, and Youth Minister Lucie Charlebois read it over the weekend.

Half a dozen teenaged girls ran away from the group home in a matter of weeks earlier this year, prompting widespread concern as people realized just how common running away from the centre was.

“We had several runaways in a few days coming from the Laval Centre, which doesn't mean that the problem exists only in Laval. It exists all over the province,” said Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux.

It's believed the girls were being recruited for prostitution.

The parents of one girl said their daughter had fled the group home six times -- and that she was in the home because she was running away from home so often.

Laval police said many of the girls were being targeted by pimps, and one of the runaways was located in another province.

The ministers said cases are complex and as the report suggests, there should be better coordination and a focus on prevention.

“Police services are involved, social workers are involved, people working at the youth centres and school are involved, the community is involved, families are involved -- so we have to coordinate the efforts better,” said Coiteux.

Several years ago the government changed the rules regarding youth homes to allow in and out privileges. The justification at the time was that intense surveillance was not effective, and that locking the troubled teens inside the group homes was a violation of their rights.

In February the Laval group home temporarily suspended that practice.

The provincial government said it would spend $3 million over the next five years on a new program to help youth, but critics say that is still less than was being spent on such programs several years ago.  

PQ youth protection critic Jean-Francois Lisee said the money is too little, too late.

“She defunded the tools that we had to try and prevent the runaways and try to make life harder for pimps, she defunded that,” said Lisee.

Coiteux admitted more work needs to be done.

“It's not the end of the story. We are still in the process of improving our ways of dealing with this issue,” he said.