The words are harsh, as violent as the situation they reflect.
The staff of the Departmental Children’s Home have just sent “an open letter” to the prefect of Charente-Maritime, Brice Blondel.
Supported by the CGT and CFDT unions, all denounce “the exponential deterioration in the quality of care for children in care”.
Due to a lack of suitable resources and faced with “increasingly complex” disorders, professionals are no longer able to fulfill their missions in a suitable, stable and serene framework.
“Many of these children are victims, almost daily, of violence, and this in too much silence, despite the writings of educators,” underline the unions, denouncing physical and psychological violence between minors and against their educators.
Sexual violence – and even rape between young minors – is also mentioned.
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“Despite requests for corrective measures for a very long time, such as the end of multiple rooms for example, nothing has been done, due to lack of space and resources,” insist the CGT and the CFDT.
“The Children’s Home should be a sanctuary, not an environment where violence reigns.
However, the State is the guarantor of the security of our fellow citizens.
We are facing institutional mistreatment,” deplores Vincent Tranquard, the secretary general of the Departmental Health Union of the CGT in Charente-Maritime.
“Children are becoming more and more damaged”
“Children are becoming more and more damaged.
The situation has been deteriorating for years but everything has accelerated since Covid,” testifies Frédéric Surlève, himself an educator and section secretary of the CFDT at the Children’s Home.
These conditions generate “considerable turnover” among staff, the unions note, speaking of “experienced professionals who leave, exhausted, out of breath from having to constantly defend their educational values, and no longer able to bear the unbearable”.
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Questioned by the daily “Sud Ouest”, the president of Charente-Maritime, Sylvie Marcilly intends to “challenge the government” and “make proposals”.
In 2023, the department has dedicated 78 million euros to prevention and child protection.
“Insufficient”, say the unions, referring to “a constant budget” despite increasing needs.
“We are facing a social problem.
There are more and more reports and more and more children in care.
We are not armed to face complex situations,” admitted Sylvie Marcilly.
The Children's Home has around a hundred places in Charente-Maritime spread between Saintes and Puilboreau, on the outskirts of La Rochelle.
Its primary mission remains in theory the emergency reception of minors confronted, in spite of themselves, with cases of domestic violence, child abuse, incest or child neglect.
Some are subject to judicial placement.
Others of an administrative placement at the request of the parents, when their children become unmanageable or dangerous for those around them.
These minors stay an average of eight months at the Children's Home before returning to their family or being directed to a more suitable structure for long-term placement: foster family, specialized establishment or community living space.