during a shock action, the Mouv’Enfants association points out the responsibility of the departmental councils of Indre, Nord and Creuse

The association for the defense of children and adolescents, Mouv’Enfants, organized an action in front of the Indre Departmental Council. The association pointed out the responsibility of 3 departmental councils in the child welfare scandal, currently being judged in Châteauroux.

On the sidewalk, a white sheet covers the asphalt. On top was placed a doll surrounded by children’s clothes and numbered yellow blocks. The image is similar to a crime scene. On the gates of the Indre Departmental Council, around ten people hang children’s clothes, t-shirts, pants and pants. On one of the signs held up, we can read “The Departmental Council must be in the dock”.

This shocking action is led by Mouv’Enfants, an association fighting against violence against children and adolescents. Thursday, October 17, activists came to support the ten young people who became civil parties in the trial of false foster families.

From October 14 to October 18, at the Châteauroux court, 18 people were tried por having welcomed adolescents from the Nord department without approval, some of whom allegedly suffered physical and psychological violence, humiliation and forced labor. Acts committed between 2010 and 2017 in Indre, Creuse and Haute-Vienne.

But for Arnaud Gallais, co-founder of Mouv’Enfants, there is someone absent “in the dock”: the Departmental Council. On the sidelines of the trial, he wishes to recall that “the Departmental Council is responsible for placed children” et “When we are responsible, we must answer for our actions”.

There are at least three departmental councils which should have been concerned. At least that of the North, because the children placed were placed by Child Welfare in the North. But there should also have been those of Creuse and Indre. When something like this happens in three departments, we can ask ourselves the question of the responsibility of the authorities

Arnaud Gallais, co-founder of Mouv’Enfants

The activist even drives the point home, expressing alarm that “child protection is not a priority in our country” and that young victims are today alone and must fend for themselves to have their damage recognized.

“None of the Departmental Councils have provided support, even if only financial assistance for the young people’s legal fees. They are completely absent, he adds. The least they could have done was for them to become civil parties alongside the victims.”