three department presidents accused of not having protected the minors placed – Liberation

Yet conceived as a refuge for minors to failing families, Child Social Aid (ASE), governed by departments, is again accused of putting children placed under their responsibility in danger. Here for facts of extreme gravity although known to public officials : adolescents, mostly young girls, victims of prostitution networks. This Wednesday, April 29, families of ASE children have made appeals against three departmental councils-Essonne, the Yvelines and the Bouches-du-Rhône-for lack of responsibility, reveals France Info. The accusations directly target the presidents of these territories, under their competence on child protection.

« We are launching the alert so that everyone knows that in France, at present, little boys and little girls prostitute themselves in very large numbers, in the total inaction of the presidents of the department »advance lawyer Michel Amas with France Info, which denounces a « National phenomenon ». For the Council, which defends around thirty children, it is the lack of reaction and organization of the State in the protection of these minors placed which is targeted. Clearly, serious shortcomings. He protests: « We deliver children to dogs ».

This is the case of the eldest daughter of a mother quoted by the public media. At just 13 years old, she found herself on board a prostitution network, sequestded by pimps in an airbnb in Toulon, « Forced to take cocaine, to make passes». An educator abounds: « In Marseille there is not a home where I set foot where there is no prostitution ». It evokes a well -established system, with « Gamines » which, from 10 p.m. and « Cars that parade ».

These testimonies are not isolated cases. In France, 15,000 to 20,000 minors would be victims of prostitution, mostly of girls and mostly mainly from ASE. Targeted by pimps, Children’s social assistance households concentrate criticism : lack of surveillance and staff, fugues of minors, lack of medico-psychological follow-up … Today, households are only controlled every five years by departments. Flaws that prostitution networks can exploit.

These dysfunctions are such as a commission of inquiry into « The shortcomings of public child protection policies » was launched in April 2024 in the National Assembly and made an overwhelming report A year later. According to France Info, the Ministry of Justice recognizes a critical situation, evoking a failure. A circular would have been sent earlier this week to strengthen the controls in the ASE homes, and a verification by each parquet floor, by the end of the year, of all the placement structures.