This Wednesday, November 20, 2024, International Children's Rights Day draws attention to the situations of violence experienced by minors. According to the Department of Reunion, nearly 6,000 reports of worrying information have been reported this year. An increasing figure.
Published on November 20, 2024 at 10:39 a.m.
This Wednesday, November 20, 2024, is International Children's Rights Day. In Reunion, numerous actions are planned around this issue.
Because on the island, the situation is not the best. Since 2021, the number of reports of “concerning information” is increasing in Reunion.
“Worrying information”this is the name given to this alert which must be made to the Department for any observation of a situation which endangers the safety, health, or morality of a minor, or which compromises their educational conditions or physical, emotional, intellectual or social development, according to the Code of Social Action and Families.
In other words, situations of sexual violence, domestic violence, harassment… suspected following comments made by a child or even physical or behavioral symptoms.
This year alone, 5,980 “concerning information“were reported to the Cell for collecting worrying information (CRIP) of the Department of Reunion, informed Jean-Patrick Dalleau, director of Children and Families within the community, invited during the Morning Meeting of La 1ère. comparison, these reports numbered 5,348 in 2022.
Listen again to the guest from the Morning Meeting La 1ère: https://la1ere.francetvinfo.fr/reunion/programme-audio/linvite-de-la-matinale-947af7b1-9a23-49b0-9456-748e7a174af7/
“There has been a major societal shift lately. Society is more direct and more violent“, tries to explain Jean-Patrick Dalleau, refuting a failure of the protection system. Also, he links this increase to the efforts made to optimize the identification of situations of violence, in particular through networking with associative partners and institutions .
To deal with this situation, the community has put in place a departmental plan to prevent and combat domestic violence against children, with several partners such as National Education or the judicial authority.
“We have a certain number of actors, associations and institutions, which make it possible to detect children in vulnerable situations so that we can take the elements and transmit them to the CRIP. (…) It is a process of moving towards so that there is a shared vision, so that these situations are detected and that there is qualification. We ensure that it is indeed concerning information, then. we send it to the territorial child welfare or prevention services, so that an assessment can be carried out within three months. If protection measures are necessary, we can contact the judicial authority, or agree with them. parents of preventive measures to be implemented”
Jean-Patrick Dalleau, Director of Children and Families at the Department
But are the means sufficient? In the opinion of many social workers, they are not. But “the community is taking the problem head on and we are doing our best to increase prevention actions”assure Jean-Patrick Dalleau.
“The means will never be sufficient. But tools exist and there are intervention strategies that must be taken into account and networking is important (…)”
Jean-Patrick Dalleau, Director of Family and Childhood at the Department
“The community has made significant efforts to diversify child care offers“, he also wants to emphasize.
Currently, Reunion Island has 850 family assistants for 2,150 children in foster care. There are also children's homes of a social nature, which accommodate just under 400 children, and departmental homes whose specific mission is to accommodate emergency situations following emergency placement measures by the judicial authority. .
Emphasis should also be placed on supporting parents, the first stone in the fight for children's rights, notes the Department.
“The best prevention is the best possible support for parenting, because it allows parents to take the necessary measures to improve the situation of their children.“, underlines Jean-Patrick Dalleau.
To free children's voices, several associations are working in Reunion. This is the case, for example, of Femmes Solidaires, which created skits around situations of violence, and thus help child victims of violence to identify what they or other children around them may have experienced.
For Pierrette Mira, director of the association, it is about creating a space in which to confide.
“Sexual violence, we have the impression that we should not talk about it, but by bringing back the notion of consent in relation to age, children understand very well. We think that they do not know but they know better than us”
Pierrette Mira, director of the Femmes Solidaires association
Through these workshops, the Femmes Solidaires association says it sees the consequences and trauma that may have set in, such as language delays, behavioral problems or dropping out of school. “The workshops are good for getting children to talk, so that they can express their suffering and so that we can direct them to suitable professionals.”concludes the director of the association.
As a reminder, a free “Childhood in Danger” number, 119, exists to report any situation of risk or danger, by the child himself, or by any other witness. He is available 24 hours a day.
