Should we reform child welfare?

The Radio France investigation unit reveals in an edifying investigation that children were placed by the Northern Child Welfare in families without approval and were victims of violence and mistreatment there. Nineteen people will be tried from October 14, 2024. Neither the department nor the ASE are required to appear, but questions arise as to their role in this affair.

The lawyer for Matthias, a young man now aged 22, admits that he does not fully understand why the department and Child Welfare in the North are not summoned to court: “What did they do? Nothing. Except handing over the children or getting rid of the children! They didn’t check the license, or even the criminal record – since the families of reception did not legally have the right to welcome children – they were not worried either about the conditions in which the children were welcomed, and they did not believe them when they reported the violence they suffered at the end of stay !”.

What did they do? Nothing. With the exception of entrusting the children or getting rid of the children!

Jean Sannier, civil party lawyer

He continues his enumeration : “IThey did not contact the Indre ASE which would have immediately made it known that these families could not accommodate these children, nor checked the additional information. In reality, you have in this file of subcontracting, we welcomed more and more children entrusted to other families. You then have the financial flows which have never been controlled, they have never been declared.”

In her investigation for Radio France, independent journalist Romane Brisard reveals a system of expatriation of children placed in the North to an association based in Indre, Haute-Vienne and Creuse.

First dysfunction, one of the two founders of this association was convicted of rape and sexual assault. He could therefore not receive children. Then, the children in care will be mistreated and violated. Finally, despite reports, the ASE du Nord continued to send minors to these “illegal host families” for 7 years, between 2010 and 2017.

Romane Brisard explains : “These reports made by field educators concerning the violence suffered by children, reported to the Child Welfare hierarchy, should, obviously, have provoked changes in the reception of these young people. Management must check the reception conditions of these children and in advance the approvals of these host families. All this under the supervision and responsibility of the presidency of the departmental council.

For the lawyer, Jean Sannier, there was a real desire not to know : “There were reports, without action. We didn’t want to know more, we didn’t want to know that these children were living in unworthy conditions, in winter in a caravan without water, without electricity, without access to toilets, other than with a bucket. We received them with punches, kicks, whips, tasers and then as if that wasn’t enough, we put the head of one of these children in the toilet bowl and we forbade him to wash afterwards. . The bullying is worthy of a Zola novel. It is unimaginable the violence that there could have been, and the desire of the ASE of the North not to know more. It’s a desire that lasted for 7 years.”

Romane Brisard is also surprised by the absence at the trial of those responsible for the placement of children from the North : “What led me to dig into this matter so much and what got me so involved in this investigation was above all discovering that, even if there are 19 members of these illegal foster families called to the stand , no name, no manager, no member of the management chain, of the Child Welfare hierarchy is called to the stand. Which seems crazy, given the failures of the ASE over all these years.”

No name, no manager, no member of the management chain, of the Child Welfare hierarchy is called to the stand. Which seems crazy, given the failures of the ASE over all these years.”

Romane Brisard, independent journalist

“The law offers a sufficient arsenal to pursue department presidents when they are responsible for a “loss of opportunity” for children. It’s up to the public prosecutor to do his job!” cowardly Lyes Louffok, former foster child, children’s rights activist.

Romane Brisard complete : “While investigating, I found several reports which had been passed on to these members of the ASE du Nord hierarchy without this triggering an internal investigation, without these children being removed from these families. “welcome. I found it unbearable and that’s also why I wanted to reveal this matter.”

According to the journalist, even the educators who worked at the ASE at the time do not understand that their management is not on the dock. They were responsible for taking the children to these foster families, on the instructions of their superiors. Despite the reports received by their management, they were never aware of it : “There is an enormous form of guilt among these educators who felt devastated by the announcement of this affair, they said to themselves: “We took these kids into the den of the wolf “. It impacts these professionals, (…) they have the feeling of having taken these children to the slaughterhouse without knowing it and have a real feeling of betrayal on the part of their superiors.”

She concludes : “It is thanks to the involvement of hospital staff that we managed to remove these children from these families. The reports from educators did not have the same repercussions.”

Lyes Louffok, on this matter, says to himself “surprised by the scale of the number of families involved but not in substance. There are a lot of scandals!” he comments. He continues : “How could this have gone under the radar for so long ? The situation must have been known to the ASE but did not provoke a reaction. It’s negligence, it’s hard to explain.”

“The department is failing, that’s the phrase I heard throughout the investigation from social workers or child protection activists“, specifies Romane Brisard before continuing: “CSome are calling for the recentralization of the child protection system which was decentralized in the 1980s. Why? Today, they consider that the department does not fulfill its role, sometimes because it is not the priority of local policies, sometimes because the State does not invest enough for child protection. We still have more than 300 million savings that have been made on the solidarity and disability budget. And above all the ASE is the last link in the chain of child protection after education, health, justice.”

It’s a voice that is becoming increasingly heard. The differences between the departments are glaring. The one in the North has the most children in care: 12 000.

Lyes Louffok says he is extremely surprised by the fact that the successive presidents of the Northern Departmental Council are not heard by the courts. He explains: “The law is very clear, the presidents of the departments have individual criminal and civil responsibility. They should be careful, one day the justice system will have to hear them!”

On recentralization, he claims to have been calling for it for ten years on the grounds that “over the last 40 years, department presidents have largely demonstrated their incompetence.” He gets annoyed: “The tragedies, the journalistic investigations follow one another and nothing changes.” For him, recentralizing the management of child welfare is a prerequisite for any systemic reform. He recalls that “dVarious reports from the Court of Auditors and the Defender of Rights show that this system is ineffective. We need a global, interministerial policy.”

“Entrusting this public policy to elected officials is a questioning choice. This parental replacement mission is not natural for an elected official, decentralization has created a lot of inequalities, presidents do not campaign on the protection of “childhood, even if it’s a big budget.”

The 19 defendants in this trial are called to appear from October 14, 2024 at the Chateauroux Court.