INVESTIGATION
How many children are abused behind closed doors in closed families? While all the social workers in the departments have been placed on telework and reports of domestic violence have soared by 30% since the start of confinement against the new coronavirus, Europe 1 has taken an interest in the functioning of social assistance at home. 'Childhood (ASE) in this context.
"We are like the rest of the country, not quite stopped but we are really idling," says Pierre *, an evaluator in a unit for collecting worrying information (CRIP). Responsible for prioritizing situations raised by the Social Aid for Children in his department, his task, carried out by telework, is all the more difficult since the only trips authorized to specialized educators are those related to the execution of a provisional placement order signed by a judge, i.e. for situations of absolute emergency. "It's going to be the shaken baby, the teenager violently attacked by her mother with a knife, but for the rest, we are playing the watch," he confides, admitting "the risk of missing out on worrying situations".
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The chain of alerts paralyzed by containment
It is usually National Education which provides nearly 60% of the information processed by the ASE. Despite the schools being closed, a few school social workers, teachers and directors are trying to make contact with social workers, but reports are becoming more rare. In normal times, at the origin of around 10% of lifts, the toll-free number 119 does not allow fine detection either. "We must be able to verify what is denounced. If these are acts of direct violence against minors, we will set up direct contact by telephone with the family, at least. But without being able to go to the home, that doesn’t go no further, because if justice wants to prosecute you need a medical certificate. However, if no one is able to present the child to a doctor ... ", explains Pierre. "To intervene, there must be imminent, proven danger, not that it is just a risk," summarizes the evaluator.
" I have a real apprehension for families on the wire, whose parents are already deficient "As for protective measures or assessments already in progress, he "does the best", puts his personal number on a masked call for lack of access to his professional line which is a landline. "I am trying to reach families little by little, I have a real apprehension for those where it was already on the wire, whose parents are already deficient," he tells Europe 1. Because of a fifty files to follow, sometimes double for some educators, "even if we are confined we cannot call them all every day". "Some families are no longer dropping out, others tell us 'everything is fine everything is fine', but they say that from the start", explains Pierre who feels "a certain apprehension", and feeds "a real fear" for the after confinement.
While France has nearly 50,000 children placed and 300,000 followed within the family, all educators fear to "discover terribly degraded situations" at the end of confinement, abounds Jean Michel Vauchez. He, president of the National Organization of Special Educators, recalls that the sector was already suffering before the measures taken by the government to fight against the coronavirus. "This crisis highlights the shortcomings that pre-existed", notes this educational coordinator who points in particular to the difficult articulation between the State, which holds for example the list of student educators specializing likely to be called in reinforcement, the departments which pilot the ASE and the associations on which a substantial part of the action is based.
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Educators who personally welcome children
The situation is also complex to organize in reception and accommodation centers. As in some Ephad, the teams are confined with the children inside, even if the establishments are not designed for that. In addition, in an ordinance of March 25, the government considerably relaxed the conditions for the admission of children to the various reception structures, but also the number of staff to supervise them as well as the qualifications required. "The fact of sacrificing security standards makes me scream", suffocates a professional in the sector who wishes that these modalities as best as possible to ensure the continuity of public service are not maintained afterwards.
Other centers have innovated, such as the one run by Eric in Saône-et-Loire. The latter distributed the seven children initially placed in its structure to educators and families, and personally welcomed three children aged 11, 18 and 19. "It is only me who goes out and when I go shopping, I have to leave them alone", he tells Europe 1. "So I'm afraid it will happen to me an accident, or to be retained, it's complicated but we manage! "
" We are forced to reinvent our profession "At the same time "director, night watchman, educator, housekeeper", Eric finds himself running washing machines and dishwashers daily while looking into the two-year program of CAP electricity on his "single computer" . "We are forced to reinvent our profession," he smiles, delighted to reveal something other than rap to his three residents who he "rediscovers". "It's been 15 days since I have them and I haven't had to raise my voice," he wonders, "they are very different from the center, they even develop a form of empathy".
Mocked because he takes the temperature morning and evening, Eric notes that he "went from taking charge, with the word 'charge', to 'taking into account'. It's interesting what happens, for the more, "he says. And to note that one of the foster children he receives recently asked to "pretend that we have not heard the end of confinement" when she arrives. "Maybe not anyway!" The educator notes, however, that despite all the Excel documents and tables to be filled daily, "even the people in the department usually very distant, distant, are nice". "The team is more united," he concludes.