An 11-year-old girl was found dead in October in a home in Oise. A collective of children’s rights defenders called this Thursday for an “emergency plan”. The child was placed in child welfare (ASE). The government’s response to the crisis that the ASE is going through “is not up to par”, declared to AFP, Claire Bourdille, founder of the Collectif Enfantiste, at the initiative of a call to come together at Paris, this Thursday early evening.
“We don’t want Méline [l’enfant décédée dans l’Oise] die in silence. We can no longer let children die like this: when they are placed, it is to be protected. There, they die in homes where they should be protected,” she explains.
“Discovery hanged in his room”
According to the Compiègne public prosecutor’s office, the little girl died on October 21 “in a home managed by the voluntary sector where minors entrusted to child welfare in Pierrefonds” in Oise are accommodated. She “was discovered hanging in her room” in the evening, added the prosecution, specifying that an investigation into the causes of death had been opened.
In France, some 377,000 children are the subject of a protection measure under child welfare, whose services have, since the major decentralization laws of 1982 and 1983, come under the authority and the responsibility of the presidents of departmental councils.
“There are not enough places left”
Associations and professionals in this sector regularly sound the alarm, pointing out a lack of resources and staff, and believing that they are no longer able to ensure the care or monitoring of minors in danger.
“There are no longer enough places, there are children dying and we have testimonies from host families who tell us that they are forced to put their 18-year-olds on the street,” says Claire. Bourdille, who calls for demonstrations on November 18 “against violence against children and in favor of their rights”.