Toulouse: the closure of the Tourelles site could “put a hundred minors on the street”, denounces Médecins du Monde
The closure of the Tourelles home for unaccompanied minors on February 7 risks putting “one hundred unaccompanied young people on the street”, denounces the NGO Médecins du Monde, which has been working on this site for two years, in the district of Lardenne, property of the city of Toulouse.
There are currently around a hundred unaccompanied minors, mostly nationals of Sub-Saharan Africa and Central Asia (80% recognized as minors by the courts), who risk ending up “on the street”, denounces Médecins du Monde in Toulouse. .
The medical NGO, which has been working for two years on the site of Les Tourelles (Lardenne district) – a former Ehpad converted into a home for unaccompanied minors and property of the municipal social action center (CCAS) of the municipality –, is concerned about the upcoming closure of the place.
Officially on February 7, after a decision by the city of Toulouse, but “without a proposal for accommodation for young people”, worries the NGO. “Adolescents excluded from child protection after assessment of their minority based on subjective and random criteria”, we castigate Doctors of the World.
“We didn’t have time to anticipate”
“The town hall told us that it wanted to recover the site of Les Tourelles for the CCAS, but it left us at the start until April, after the winter break, explains the coordinator of the mobile teams of Doctors of the World Nicolas Puvis. . We had time to anticipate. But it is difficult to comment on the town hall of Toulouse will arrive in less than a week to find a solution for a hundred young people, while there are 2,000 people on the street without a housing solution.
Nearly sixty of these drifting minors are educated in Toulouse, in college and high school, and are followed, sometimes, during failed group lessons at the Tourelles site. “These teenagers are in the middle of the school year, already affected by the anxiety of an uncertain future and this homelessness will obviously jeopardize their chances of academic success”, note two representatives of the association “Tous-tes En Classe31” in a press release.
“The town hall of Toulouse, the associations and collectives carry this device at arm’s length in place of the departmental council of Haute-Garonne which does not assume its responsibilities”, affirms Doctors of the World.
“State Jurisdiction”
Requested, the Department ensures that the Tourelle site “welcomes unaccompanied young people who have been assessed as adults by the departmental system for reception, assessment and orientation of unaccompanied minors. The care of these young people therefore falls within the competence of the State”.
On the side of the town hall, the CCAS indicates, in a letter of January 25, that “the closure of the site will take place on February 7. Young people, who have communicated their identity, will be accompanied to other suitable accommodation solutions[…]”.
The deputy mayor in charge of social affairs Daniel Rougé adds that “the lack of respect for the negotiated support framework leads us to have to put an end to this system. However, our wish is to continue the partnership work that we have started with the departmental council and the State services”.
The autonoMIE collective calls for demonstrations, Friday February 4 at 6 p.m., Place du Capitole, in support of young unaccompanied minors at the Tourelles site.