a “not so exceptional” case according to the government
A couple from Noyelles-sous-Lens (Pas-de-Calais) will be tried in January, suspected of violence and educational deficiencies, after the discovery Tuesday August 30 by the police of two of their ten children tied to high chairs, according to the AFP. It was the call to social services from one of the eldest of the siblings of ten children – aged from four months to 24 years old – which set the justice system in motion at the end of August.
When they enter the family home, the police see “ two children aged two and five […] tied to high chairs, so they don’t move “, in a ” deplorable state of hygiene “, according to the parquet floor of Béthune. The parents, a 44-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman, were then arrested and placed under judicial control. Indicted, they must be tried on January 24 for serious educational deficiencies and “violence on a minor of 15 years by ascendant”, without total incapacity for work.
No “house of horror” according to the prosecutor
” What is reproached is above all the total lack of hygiene, and serious educational deficiencies “, that is ” the fact of not having taken care of his children in a normal way “, specified the prosecutor Thierry Dran. ” On a case of certain shortcomings “. But the qualifier of house of horror “, seen in the press and in particular as a banner on the BFMTV channelis for him” totally exaggerated “: ” We have no traces of blows on the children “, neither ” of children covered in excrement as I have read everywhere “, he insisted.
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Faced with the excitement caused by the case, the government wanted to react in turn. Five minor children” have been replaced and all are ” safe “, assured Charlotte Caubel, the Secretary of State in charge of Children, on the front line on this file. To pay ” unacceptable “whatever it is, the situation is not” not so exceptional ” on ” a very special territory, with a certain number of families in difficult situations, of poverty “, she also indicated.
Reports “not recovered”
The government announced on Monday an administrative investigation to understand how the ten children of this Pas-de-Calais family were able to suffer abuse despite social monitoring. At the end of a round table on this dossier in the Pas-de-Calais prefecture, Charlotte Caubel pointed the finger on Monday at ” breakdowns ” in the ” coordination and exchange of information » between services: « There have been reports that have come to light from year to year, but which have not necessarily been recovered with each other and have not made it possible to take a situation in a transversal way. »
The family was ” known services since a first report in 2013, said the secretary of state. ” There have been several supports », « signs “, in particular of National Education, but ” which have not necessarily been recovered “. ” All the services [les] accompanied, each in their silo “, Corn ” we did not link the problems of the big brother with those of the infant ” and ” we did not realize the recurring difficulty, and the increasing difficulty she observed. Visits from social services also took place, but the couple warned in advance “ perhaps put his house in order willingly or consciously to hide his reality “, she noted.
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The administrative inquiry that she announced on Monday should make it possible to ” Decrypt ” why ” the inspections of social affairs, justice and national education, alongside the department ” have “ given rise to such a late reaction “. Family “ was not known to the courts “Until the last few days, underlined the prosecutor. ” There have been some worrying reports that don’t all come to justice “, he noted.
In addition to the administrative inquiry, the government has proposed setting up a ” strengthened monitoring committee » involving all the actors of the department, an experiment authorized by a law of February 2022. It should make it possible to improve the « coordination ” and ” the exchange of information between the various child protection actors in Pas-de-Calais, where the poverty rate exceeds 19%.