Toulouse: malaise in an institution responsible for child protection
Family assistants in charge of children placed by the justice system and who have been suddenly withdrawn denounce the functioning of the Toulouse association “Accueil et Famille” and speak of “institutional mistreatment”.
What is happening within the Toulouse association “Accueil et Famille”? This structure, overseen and financed by the Childhood Social Assistance (ASE) managed by the Haute-Garonne departmental council, is the subject of complaints from at least four family assistants. Employees who saw the children for whom they were responsible removed and who were dismissed in a somewhat cavalier fashion. In any case, this is the feeling of one of them, Marie-Pierre Lebon, who took care of a little boy for several years from the age of 3 until he was 8 years old and who was brutally forced to separate.
Pain and misunderstanding
“I was on sick leave when the director of the association told me that I could no longer see him,” she explains. We are precarious CDIs and we can thus decide our fate without even being warned, explains Marie-Pierre. It’s terrible, when we obviously had very close relations with this child for whom I was a reference, a surrogate mother and I fought for him, for him to change schools, for sport. , without ever being listened to”. A misunderstanding shared by the family of the placed child, who wrote a letter to the public prosecutor worth filing a complaint. “We have seen for six years that our child is growing very well with this lady,” insists the mother. She took very good care of him. We were reassured because our son lacked nothing, was always smiling and we took pleasure in listening to him tell us everything he had done at Marie’s. And there we were not even informed that it was transmitted and that our son was sent elsewhere ”. A relationship, however, all the stronger since Marie-Pierre Lebon had obtained authorization to welcome the eldest brother, aged 11, also placed in a host family in Saint-Gaudens, one weekend out of two. and half of certain school holidays. “It’s institutional mistreatment, she protests, the rights of family workers are flouted, without it moving anyone, including the supervisory authority”. Before mentioning the cases of other assistants to whom the association “Reception and family” withdrew three or even four children at once. “Several of us are in a delicate situation with this association confirmed by another employee. For my part, after 16 years of “collaboration”, I am seen withdrawing the three children who had been registered with me for 13, 10 and 4 years, after a sick leave of 9 weeks. Even as the family fights against these decisions and has arrested the director and the children’s judge, with finally a complaint to the public prosecutor “.
“Children pay the highest price”
The grandmother of this already bruised sibling questions: “My grandchildren were torn from their foster family and separated without consultation, she regrets. Where is the emergency? They pay a high price for brutal and sudden decisions, which aggravate their deep malaise. One of them, placed in a home, is in danger. He was assaulted twice. The change in living environment is violent and adaptation is always difficult”. So many testimonies, which betray the deep malaise of an institution called into question, today, in its functioning. Marie-Pierre Lebon, for her part, seized the prud’hommes to dismiss abusively. For lack of being able to dialogue with the leaders of the “Accueil et Famille” association. The director, Michel Laulaigne, whom we contacted several times, did not respond to our requests. And Marie-Pierre Lebon, who had asked Childhood Social Assistance to be able to at least see the child she is caring for, has just received the answer. It’s no !