Sonia has not forgotten this June 13, 2024. Like every day, this mother goes to the social children's home (MECS) of Saint-Avold (57), where she has been working as an educator for several months. Inaugurated in 2022, the building accommodates minors and young adults supported by child welfare. On duty in the afternoon, Sonia sees Marie (1), a young girl from the home, arrive in tears at the beginning of the evening. “I try to calm her down, but nothing helps,” confides Sonia. Marie explains to him that she would have been locked in a vehicle for several hours by her educatorwho was playing football with other teenagers, the adult remembers:
“She reportedly managed to get out of the vehicle and walk several kilometers to the home. »
The rest, Sonia wrote a few days later in emails addressed to the director of child welfare (ASE) from Moselle, as well as the general director of Moissons Nouvelles, the association which manages the place. It depicts a “scene of violence”, during which the educator would have stormed back to the center and “swept” Marie. “I didn't sleep for several days. I spoke to my manager about it, who did nothing,” sighs Sonia. In a letter which would have been written a few days later and signed by Marie, the behavior of the same educator is singled out. “I really don’t feel good when he’s in office,” writes his author. Comments corroborated by one of his relatives contacted by StreetPress. At the beginning of 2024, a current educator also asked her management about the working methods of the same educator.
This MECScalled So Green, specializes in the protection and assistance of children and adolescents. The Moissons Nouvelles association employs more than 1,000 people in France for a total budget of 68 million euros. It is organized into six regional centers, of which that of the Grand-Est is the most important, with its budget of 18 million euros in 2023 and its ten services. Among the different structures, several are located in the East of the Moselle, in Saint-Avold, but also in Petite-Rosselle and Folschviller. During our investigation, we collected testimonies from eight former or current employees, as well as exchanges of emails and messages. They describe a children's home where minors are sometimes put in danger by chronic understaffing or problems between supervisors..
Failure to assist a vulnerable minor
At the beginning of 2024, Lysalia Schreiber witnesses a crisis allegedly suffered by a teenager and to which two managers remained unmoved. “The teenager in question had already tried to escape from the window in November 2023”rewinds this now former educator at the MECS of Saint-Avold. “I asked for the first time to intervene to calm him down, but my superior forbade me and told me to let him calm down alone. » A few minutes later, she heard the sound of glass, looked outside and “noticed shards on the floor and a huge hole in the first layer of the double glazing in the bedroom”. Lysalia continues:
“I once again call my supervisor, who observes the scene and tells me to go out and sweep up the debris. Arriving in the room, I found the teenager, a large piece of glass in his hand, trying to cut his veins. »
Contacted, the hierarchical superior claimed for his part to have intervened in the teenager's room after Lysalia's entry and asked the boy to let go of the piece of glass he was holding. Which he would have ended up doing after being skinned. He also directly calls into question the management of Moissons Nouvelles :
“I alerted management on several occasions about this young person, who was sometimes violent and who needed therapeutic support. I was never heard. »
During our investigation, six former employees, mainly from So Green, gave us similar testimonies: dysfunctions that some tried to report to management, without success. Almost all of them then resigned or suffered dismissal like Soniaor a non-renewal of their contract like Lysalia. After trying to alert his superiors via the head of a MECS neighbor, its end of CDD was also “tense”. A few months after her dismissal, Sonia regrets no longer seeing teenagers with whom “she had good contact” and having been forced to abandon a job “in which she felt useful. »
A MECS fractured and understaffed
“What has been happening for several months is serious,” summarizes Sophie Weber. Executive assistant at the MECS So Green, she preferred to resign at the beginning of 2024, experiencing personal difficulties because of her work. From May to September, she reported several testimonies – including that of Sonia – to the child protection department, and even directly to the president of the Moselle department, Patrick Weiten. In these dozens of exchanges consulted by StreetPress, it tells the daily life of a MECS fractured, understaffed, where relationships between employees are often conflictual. A structure where these enmities have direct repercussions on adolescents.
“For several years, department heads have been on parade, educators are regularly on sick leave, the use of temporary workers is more and more frequent,” admits a veteran, speaking on condition of anonymity. An ex continues:
“We work in a strange environment: there is sometimes one educator for around fifteen teenagers, those who are absent are not replaced in time. It is the children who suffer this institutional violence. »
Another man who passed through So Green, which he left a few months ago, judges the situation more than alarming and even believes that the MECS “should close”:
“There is a constant endangerment of children and educational teams due to the non-action and non-support of management. I witnessed several scenes of violence, whether from adolescents or educators, and I myself was taken to task. »
The consequences of a lack of resources are sometimes dramatic. In December 2023, several teenagers manage to run away from the MECS. A few months later, another teenager, this time staying in Folschviller, managed to steal a company car and caused an accident a few kilometers away. In email exchanges, a department head is alarmed by the behavior of certain educatorswho allegedly manipulate a teenager “to exert coercion on young people, forcing them to submit to their orders. »
Faced with these difficulties which affect the entire department, a collective called Protect 57 was founded at the beginning of 2024. Made up mainly of social workers, They demand additional financial and human resources for child protection. “The 50% turnover, 15% absenteeism, it’s everywhere in the social sector,” deplores Éric Florindi, Sud santé-sociaux Moselle union representative and member of this collective. He adds:
“During calls for tenders, what takes precedence is budgetary rigor, not the quality of support for children. Those found at the head of these structures are managers, not people who share humanist values. »
In December 2023, Éric Florindi presented this situation during a meeting with Patrick Weiten and notably submitted a text to the president of the department, which reports the alarming situation within the MECS So Green. An interview during which the president of the Moselle department would have promised a consultation on this subject, which did not take place.
Several complaints filed in early 2024
The dysfunctions experienced by the homes managed by Moissons Nouvelles in Moselle, in particular So Green, are also in the hands of the courts. A group of around ten former employees has notably initiated proceedings with the industrial tribunal for unfair dismissals. According to our information, several complaints were also filed with the Metz and Sarreguemines public prosecutor's offices at the start of the year regarding these professional conflicts, but also for failure to assist a person in danger and vulnerable minors.
One of these complaints was sent in March 2024 by Lysalia Schreiber, after the situation she experienced and the adolescent crisis which would not have aroused any reaction from its hierarchy. To StreetPress, the Sarreguemines Public Prosecutor's Office confirms that a procedure is indeed under investigation with the Freyming-Merlebach police services (57).
(1) The first name has been changed.
When contacted, the educator who hit Marie, Lysalia's superior, the general director and the director of the Grand Est division of Moissons Nouvelles did not respond to StreetPress' questions.
When contacted, neither the director of the ASE in Moselle Karine Legrand, nor the Moselle department and Patrick Weiten responded to StreetPress's interview requests.
Illustration from Front Page by Léa Taillefert.
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