It is an original and unprecedented study because, for once, it puts aside adults to focus on children.
On a part of minors which continues to increase in France: those whose parents have decided to separate.
There are around 4 million of them, according to INSEE, or a little less than a third of French children.
While one in two marriages today ends in divorce, and single-parent families represent a quarter of families, the France Stratégie institute, which depends on Matignon, has chosen to look into their fate.
How do the “little ones” live when the “big ones” no longer love each other?
First lesson: the fall is brutal the year the couple decides to break up because, over this period alone, the drop in the standard of living of the offspring is 19%.
This is accompanied, again according to this study, by a move for 38% of children in the year of the breakup and 60% in the three years following (with a frequent change of school because 20% change municipalities and 6% of department).
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“When you separate, there is the mechanical effect of losing a salary and fewer economies of scale being achieved.
Gas and electricity bills are no longer paid by a couple but by a single person,” comments Anne Solaz, research director at INED (National Institute of Demographic Studies).
“With sole custody and a low pension paid by the father, I often have to dip into my savings”
This is where the problem lies, because for these children, the vast majority of whom (82%) live with their mother who has a lower income than that of her former partner, there is then a real risk of " entry into poverty”, warn the authors, with a situation which can be lasting.
“This risk remains high five years after the separation”, also warns France Stratégie.
“I separated from my partner eight years ago and my economic situation, as well as that of my children, is getting worse every year,” reports Emmanuelle, a single mother of two grown children aged 16 and 19.
Owner of an apartment with her ex, this woman on a permanent contract, with a bac + 5, had to move after the breakup and has since rented social housing.
“I don't have a fantastic rent, but with sole custody and a low pension paid by the father, I often have to dip into my savings,” regrets Emmanuelle, who considers herself “abandoned by the public authorities.”
She explains that she eats, because of inflation, “pasta and pancakes” and buys everything second-hand.
According to the France Stratégie study, 37% of children of separated parents live in social housing when they live with their mother (23% with their father).
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Note that children in alternate residence living with both their father and their mother suffer less from this social decline, but they only represent 12.5% of cases.
“Looking at these figures, we cannot do without serious reflection on this subject today.
This also demonstrates that if there is a separation, adults have an interest in maintaining good relationships, in the interest of the child,” believes Rémy Verlyck, director general of the Sustainable Families think tank.