In April 2023, in a damning report published nine months after the death of an eleven-month-old little girl in a private nursery in Lyon, the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (Igas) had already revealed the extent of quality problems in young child care establishments (ECEC) and acts of mistreatment (see our article). In September 2023, four journalists launched an alert focused on private nurseries in two investigative books entitled “The Price of the Cradle” and “Babyzness”.
With his book “Les Ogres” published this fall, investigative journalist Victor Castanet goes even further in compiling testimonies damning certain groups of private nurseries – firstly People&Baby, but also La Maison bleue and Les Petits Chaperons rouge . To address the nursery sector which has similarities with that of nursing homes, the journalist adopted the same approach as that which resulted, in 2022, in the publication of the book “Les Fossoyeurs” which shook the Orpéa group and the sector in general (see our article): the collection of testimonies from families whose child has been the victim of mistreatment, from field employees (childcare assistants in particular), but also from regional and national managers of these groups, access to confidential documents such as business plans and the analysis of multiple dysfunctions – specific to companies or more systemic – which result in exhausting professionals and endangering the children in care. “The regularity of these incidents must alert us,” insisted Victor Castanet, on October 2, 2024, during an audition by the Senate Social Affairs Committee
DSP nurseries: lower prices and logical consequences on quality
The journalist denounces in particular what he calls “the triumph of low cost”, the mechanisms of which he explains. In 2004, the government opened the crèche sector to private operators, granting them subsidies to encourage the creation of child care places by these entrepreneurs. This is the start of public service delegations (DSP) for a certain number of municipalities which see it as an opportunity to offer new reception solutions to families without taking on the management of the service themselves, at a cost reduced by in relation to the price of the municipal crib (around 7,000 euros compared to at least 10,000 euros) and with reduced opening times for ECEC (less than six months compared to three to five years).
Initially, “the operation seemed to be a win-win for everyone”, including for the Babilou group which had positioned itself but, from 2010 and the first DSP renewals, the three other large groups arrived on this market in a disruptive manner. the prices, up to offering around 4,000 euros per crib. “All over France, municipalities, small or large, left or right, are choosing the cheapest,” writes the journalist, emphasizing that the reasons are “multiple”.
“’We were promised that it would be like before’: it’s never like before,” notes Victor Castanet. Such price reductions have only two effects, he explained: “either the group lowers its level of profitability (to the point of jeopardizing its operation), or it lowers its payroll” by reducing the number positions and/or by not replacing absent professionals. Questioned in the book, Babilou’s managers explain that they refused to enter into this low-cost logic, arguing that they could not respect the management rates with a payroll reduced to its strict minimum. They lost markets… before giving up on DSPs and repositioning their strategy on corporate daycare centers.
Beyond the impact on staff and the staff ratio, various abuses linked to cut prices are cited in the book: blatant discrepancy between the marketing promise (homemade and organic meals, bilingual crèche, etc.) and reality ( small pots and diapers sometimes bought in a hurry by the director or employees, in particular because suppliers had, for lack of being paid, stopped delivering crèches from the People&Baby group).
Six cities call to ban low cost
Thus, this “low cost dynamic” was implemented “with the complicity of many cities, local authorities and ministries”, denounces the journalist, in front of certain senators – often themselves former local elected officials – a little shocked by the content of hearing. “These are the facts which are derogatory towards mayors,” replies Victor Castanet to a senator accusing him of having been derogatory.
As early as September 17, the day before the publication of the book, the Association of Mayors of France (AMF) reacted during its back-to-school press conference, emphasizing “the attachment of mayors to the quality of the welcome and their vigilance in the face of abuses” (see the communiqué). “We all know that at 5,000 euros it is impossible to have a quality service, given the supervision standards”, noted Philippe Laurent, mayor of Sceaux, estimating that the cost of a municipal cradle rises more at 16,000 euros than at 10,000 euros.
On September 24, during a press conference organized in the Senate, elected officials from six cities – Lille, Versailles, Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille and Dijon – called for this low-cost system to be banned by, for example, establishing floor prices.
Cnaf: the financing system cannot “serve as a discard pile” for managers
The method of financing crèches, centered on the single service provision (PSU) paid by the family allowance funds (CAF), is another “central” point explaining the dysfunctions observed, pointed out Victor Castanet in his book and at during the hearing. This “by-the-hour” financing system leads companies and their structure managers to concentrate excessively on the occupancy rate, to constantly seek to “plug holes” by welcoming additional children, or even to institutionalize a form of “overbooking”. “This degrades the working conditions of professionals, but also the sense of their mission (…) and it goes completely against the needs of children who need stability above all,” according to the journalist, adding that he This is “one of the rare points on which all the actors agree”.
In a press release dated September 17, 2024, the National Family Allowance Fund (Cnaf) condemns the abuses, while indicating that the financing of CAFs could not “serve as a discard for managers who choose to knowingly transgress the supervision standards applicable to the sector”. “Nevertheless aware of certain undesired indirect effects”, the Cnaf lists the changes made to the financing system in recent years, including the removal of occupancy rate objectives and the increase in flat-rate financing.
Controls: the commercial sector “recovered more strongly than the average”
“Our controls are intensifying and particularly targeting the excesses of certain managers,” adds Cnaf, with eloquent figures to support this. In 2023, out of nearly 2,500 inspections, 70% revealed “an average financial gap of 14,700 euros to be reimbursed to the CAF”. “Managers in the commercial sector are recovering more strongly than the average, with a financial impact of €25,731 per check, up to €41,122 for the crèches of the People&Baby group.
These data have the merit of being clear on the fact that more financial dysfunctions are observed in the private sector, while the official report of the commission of inquiry of the National Assembly on crèches concluded that the difficulties of crèches were essentially systemic (see our article). In particular implicating the former Minister of Families Aurore Bergé – the latter filed a defamation complaint – Victor Castanet devotes part of his book to demonstrating that the scandal of private crèches was in some way hushed up a year ago by skillful communication from the former government and the French Federation of Daycare Companies (FFEC).
The situations in certain private nurseries described in recent reports and investigations are “unacceptable”, reacted on October 2 the new Minister responsible for Families and Early Childhood, Agnès Canayer, interviewed by AFP. Dedicating her first ministerial trip on October 3 to meeting various early childhood stakeholders in Maine-et-Loire, the minister was to be presented by Florence Dabin, president of the department of Maine-et-Loire and GIP France. protected childhood, a report on the reporting channels for mistreatment in places where young children are cared for. The minister announces that she will shortly present “the first areas of her roadmap on the subject of welcoming young children”.
For his part, at the end of the hearing with Victor Castanet, the president of the social affairs committee, Philippe Mouiller announced the launch of an information mission which will focus on the means of control. According to the senator, it will be a question in particular of verifying, “on the entrepreneurial dimension in particular, on financial arrangements, on pricing, whether today the spirit of the law is respected” and whether new “tools” ‘impose.
