Europe 1 with AFP 11:45 a.m., July 28, 2022

The People & Baby group, whose Bordeaux nursery was closed for three months by the Gironde prefecture, due to "inappropriate behavior" by professionals, denounced an "abusive and hasty" decision on the group's website.

The department says it has no knowledge of any abuse.

It's a decision that does not pass for the group People & Baby.

One of its nurseries, located in Bordeaux, was closed for a period of three months by the prefecture of Gironde.

In question, "inappropriate behavior" of professionals". For the company, it is an "abusive and hasty" decision. 

This closure is based on a "report from a neighbor" and "the receipt of a protest letter which could have been sent by three professionals dismissed between March and June", to the Maternal Infant Protection (PMI), writes management on the group's site.

These dismissals were associated with "three spontaneous departures" which "rightly give an impression of high turnover" but which do not justify "such a brutal administrative closure on a Friday evening, one week before the summer holidays", estimates People & Baby.

An employee of a Lyon nursery of the group, indicted

"The two control visits (of the PMI) in March and July, only noted a turnover, with teams in consistent numbers, respect for schedules, activities and children in safety", declares the company .

The Gironde prefecture had decided to temporarily close the Eden Art crèche from July 19, due to "inappropriate behavior of three professionals supervising children" exposed in a "report sent by the minors' prosecutor's office".

One of the group's establishments had been suspended in Lyon after the death of a child.

An employee was later charged with intentional homicide.

People & Baby has filed a gracious appeal against "this aberrant decision" which "embarrasses" 32 families, without a childcare solution from the end of August, if the establishment cannot reopen its doors after the summer.

Insufficient staff

The town hall, which reserved "25 places out of 32" in this crèche, said on Monday that it knew that the crèche "had been encountering operational difficulties for several years, even before its takeover by People & Baby".

She also assured that she "cancelled the reservation market for places for the Eden Art nursery".

The Department said it had no knowledge of child abuse but noted that staff "were understaffed and overdue".