He will soon be three months old and is doing well. Saved from certain death on October 20, little Noah Briac Alban is still within the walls of the Child Welfare nursery. Victim of a skull fracture, the infant was found in a buried trash can in the Champs Manceau district, in Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine). Aged 17, his mother admitted to having given birth alone at home and to having thrown the boy into a container just after giving birth to him. Indicted for attempted murder and incarcerated, the young woman from Mayotte finally made the choice to recognize her child, we learned 20 minutes from consistent sources.
According to our information, the mother recognized her baby at the very end of the legal two-month period she had to do so. Noah Briac Alban, who now has a first name chosen by his mother, will therefore not be identified as “born under X” and will be able to know the identity of his mother. A strong choice on the part of the young mother, who had already expressed her remorse through her lawyer, who had requested her conditional release. “It’s an atrocious and heartbreaking decision, one of those that we regret the next second,” argued Me Amina Saadaoui. The three first names were given to him by the caregivers who took care of him and saved him.
The baby can no longer be adopted
This recognition will have major consequences for the future of the child, who can no longer be adopted and is no longer considered a ward of the nation. During a hearing which took place last week, the children’s judge entrusted Noah Briac Alban to Child Welfare as part of an OPP or temporary placement order. A social worker was appointed referent. “He will be responsible for his educational support, in connection with the place of reception,” specifies the department of Ille-et-Vilaine, responsible for supporting children. The father of the child, who was arrested and then released without prosecution, did not wish to recognize the baby. Aged 24 and originally from Mayotte, he explained to investigators that he had a sexual relationship with a minor in the spring of 2023. It is unknown if he was aware of the young woman’s pregnancy.
Cared for in the nursery of the Chantepie children’s social center, Noah Briac Alban can either stay there or be welcomed by family assistants (more commonly called a foster family). “The relevance of maintaining the placement will be re-examined by the children’s judge regularly, depending on the duration of the placement, these decisions falling strictly within the judicial authority,” specifies the Ille-et-Vilaine department.
Judging the situation “in the sole interest of the child”
Still in detention, the mother will have the opportunity to request custody of her baby. It will then be up to the courts to judge the situation, “in the sole interest of the child”, specifies the law. In France, the placement of a child is an exceptional measure of protection. “It is taken by the children’s judge when he considers that maintaining the child in his family environment exposes him to danger” and to a risk, whether physical, psychological, material or educational, reminds the French administration.
In Ille-et-Vilaine, 250 to 300 children are kept at home due to a lack of available places with family assistants. The staff of the Henri-Fréville childhood center in Chantepie went on strike for the first time in fifty years of existence to demand more resources.