INTERVIEW
During the confinement, the association for helping abused children the Blue Child developed, in collaboration with the Havas agency, a character in the Fortnite video game. With nearly 250 million players, this game is enjoying worldwide success, especially among the youngest. Thanks to the avatar created by Enfant bleu, child victims of violence can confide, in all discretion and freedom, to volunteers of the association mobilized every day. Adrien Taquet, Secretary of State for Child Protection, hails on Europe 1 a "great initiative" and the desire "to go and find young people where they are."
A reflection on the supports to free speech
"During this period of confinement, in particular, we tried to reach them on the social networks they use, for example, with communication operations on TikTok or Snapchat, and by going to video games", explains Adrien Taquet . "The video game is often the universe of the child in which the parents do not enter." Thus for victims of violence, confined with their "attackers", speech could be released in complete confidentiality.
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The character of the association has been "added as a friend" almost 1,200 times, with a 30% exchange between children and volunteers. A real success for testing this new reporting interface, which could be improved or even generalized. "Beyond Fortnite and this initiative, there is a whole universe that opens up to us on video games, on discussion forums, also very invested by young people. We must think about how to invest these platforms for so that the child's speech can be freed there. There are lots of places to do it. " At the start of the school year, a "task force" will be set up with police, gendarmes, associations and the teams of the Secretary of State responsible for child protection to reflect on innovations in this direction.
60 to 80% more calls to 119
During the confinement period, reports of cases of domestic violence exploded. Calls to 119, the number for children in danger, have increased between 60 and 80%, says Adrien Taquet. "There were very immediate consequences in the most urgent situations," said the secretary of state.
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Adrien Taquet sees in this period an opportunity for collective awareness. "With this period of confinement we are at a turning point where each of us is realizing that there is a subject on childhood mistreatment in our country. I must salute the citizenship of each of the French, who s "has proven to be a watch for the safety of our children," he said. "Yes, the abusing parents must be aware that we cannot behave in this way. And there must be a collective awareness. We must multiply the opportunities to talk about it, multiply the points of contact with children who may be victims of violence. "
Child welfare helps 350,000 children in France, recalls Adrien Taquet. About half of these children are "placed", "protected" in a home or foster family. The other children stay with their families, and receive support from social workers in the home.