Clément Bargain, edited by Ophélie Artaud 2:11 p.m., October 31, 2022
On Saturday, the body of an autistic child was found on the banks of the Huveaune river in Marseille, killed by his mother.
She quickly confessed to the murder, citing the "crises" from which her 12-year-old son suffered.
Difficulties experienced by many parents of autistic children, as explained by Jean-Marc Bonifay, president of the Association Autisme PACA.
On Saturday, a 12-year-old autistic child was found dead in Marseille, on the banks of the Huveaune river.
Soon, the mother confessed to killing her son with a kitchen knife.
During her police custody, she spoke of "the crises" from which the child suffered, explaining that "she could no longer manage the situation".
She "felt that it would never end", detailed the magistrate in her press release.
This drama highlights the incredible difficulties that parents of autistic children often face.
They feel abandoned, left to their own devices, to the point of taking action.
Jean-Marc Bonifay, president of the association Autisme Paca, himself almost fell over, as he explains at the microphone of Europe 1.
"Moments of great loneliness for parents"
"I came very close to the same situation so that my son would stop suffering and that I myself would stop suffering. I thought about it," he admits.
According to him, the lack of support is partly responsible for the difficulties experienced by parents.
"For the under-sixes, there are more and more things being done, but it's not just kids in autism. And kids are getting older. The biggest problems start in pre-teens where there are hormones that come into play, the desire for the other, etc. These are moments of great loneliness for the parents”, underlines Jean-Marc Bonifay.
>> Find Europe Midi in replay and podcast here
And school becomes one more obstacle for families, especially when entering college.
"These are the times when we experience a lot of bullying at school and that's when we encounter the most difficulties: at school, it's from that moment when they start to push us out. No not because the teachers would want to hurt the parents or the families, but because there are not the means”, underlines the president of the association Autisme PACA.
"We have school life assistants who are precarious, with ridiculous salaries. They are starting to have training but it remains minimal. So families are going through difficult things, even if there is a lot of love, goodwill , because they are very much on their own", he concludes at the microphone of Europe 1.