In the early childhood sector, the National Family Allowance Fund has counted more than 8,000 permanently vacant or unreplaced positions. To deal with this, recruitment will now be open to the unqualified. Concern of parents and the sector after the People and baby scandals.
While the early childhood sector is showing a decline in attractiveness, materialized by nearly 9,000 vacant positions according to a survey by the National Family Allowance Fund, a decree, which comes into force on August 31, 2022, will allow the recruitment of unqualified personnel. Nurseries and other early childhood establishments will thus be able to hire employees without a diploma.
What measures for the early childhood sector?
If the decree specifies that this is an exceptional measure, the relaxation of the conditions of employment in the early childhood sector will allow all-comers to apply there, and to be hired. . No need for the diplomas and training necessarily required to be able to take care of the little ones : it is up to the crèche which is understaffed to organize a 120-hour integration course for its new recruit. Another mandatory criterion to be able to recruit inexperienced profiles is to prove an unsuccessful search for staff for at least three weeks. In concrete terms, these are exemptions granted to establishments which, on a case-by-case basis and depending on the motivations, training and past career paths, will be able to judge the admissibility of a non-executive candidate. A measure that only very partially satisfies professionals in the sector, having identified the origin of the crisis. If childcare no longer appeals, it is because in view of the responsibilities and the commitment it requires, the work is not valued with a salary of 2,000 euros gross per month on average. For Elsa Hervy, general delegate of the French Federation of crèche companies, this measure is half satisfactory. If it better frames a possibility that already existed, it announces far greater needs: “We need today, just to operate the existing nurseries, 10,000 new professionals. Tomorrow, with retirements, at least 20,000 more. And if the commitments of the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister to build 200,000 crèche places by 2027 are to be kept, in all we need to train 100,000 new early childhood professionals. she told European 1.
To revive the sector, the Minister of Education announced last July the release of two million euros to finance a campaign to promote and attract early childhood professions. He had also mentioned several ways to guarantee the quality of reception for toddlers, such as the obligation to create a parents’ council in all crèches, the creation of a national incident reporting and monitoring system, or even checks and evaluations of establishments and staff not only reinforced, but also taking into account the satisfaction of parents. Tracks mentioned alongside the members of the Early Childhood Sector Committee, after the People and Baby scandal. And if parents say they still have confidence in collective childcare, in particular thanks to the skills and vocation of employees, this new measure is likely to worry more than one.
Baby poisoned at Destop in a People & Baby crèche: what happened?
On July 11, 2022, the new Minister of Solidarity Jean-Christophe Combe announced the seizure of the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (IGAS) to investigate the circumstances that led a childcare assistant to poison an 11-month-old baby on June 22, 2022, in a People and Baby group crèche in Lyon. Indeed, the crèche employee, overwhelmed by the crying of the baby, admitted to having sprayed him with caustic soda – a toxic product used to unclog the pipes –, then to have made him drink it. The baby then died without being able to be resuscitated and the childcare worker was indicted for “intentional homicide on a minor under 15 years old.” before being taken into custody. For his lawyer, the fragile psychological state as well as possible errors of assessment as to his skills are at the origin of the drama, rather than an intention to kill. Given its fragility and “of a particular personal context“, she should never have been alone with the baby, he says. On July 2, the Rhône prefecture for its part recorded the administrative closure of the establishment.
While the police and justice seized the case, the Minister of Solidarity wants for his part to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. And this goes through the mission entrusted to Igas, responsible for providing “quickly clarify the factors which, in this crèche, in this network, or in the general framework of the reception methods, could have contributed to the installation of situations of danger or mistreatment” is being developed at the ministry, which is also expecting “solutions to fix it” to allow the Minister to take any new regulatory measures “likely to be implemented in the fall”.
Another shaken baby in People and Baby nurseries?
According France Infoa mother would have filed a complaint on July 6, 2022 at the Mantes-la-Jolie police station, in the Yvelines for “violence aggravated by two circumstances followed by incapacity not exceeding eight days” also for “false: fraudulent alteration of the truth in a writing”. The young mother indeed accuses one of the employees of having violently shaken, last June, her two-year-old and four-month-old son, in front of her eyes. “It had been more than a week since he arrived in front of the nursery that he was screaming, that he didn’t want to go into the nursery. He said to me each time ‘nasty lady, nasty lady,’ she confides. at FranceInfo.
An investigation is underway on this case, and it does not seem so simple as that, as indicated by the public prosecutor of Versailles: “We are at the very beginning of the investigation. We only have the plaintiff’s unilateral version.” And for good reason, his website, the group People and Baby completely calls into question the statements of the complainant, who according to the leaders, would not have in fact appreciated a remark on the behavior of her child. The situation would then have degenerated: the complainant, supported by her mother and a man, would have violently attacked the supervising staff. The police intervened, and the director of the establishment filed a handrail on June 15, well before Mrs. T’s complaint. of an employee, who herself also lodged a complaint.
Nearly 5,000 euros to withdraw your child from the crèche
After the death of a baby poisoned with Destop in a People & Baby nursery in Lyon last June, parents wanted to withdraw their child from nurseries belonging to this group. This is the case of Alizée, mother of a 12-month-old baby, who told RMC that she had been very surprised, even shocked, by the response of the structure where her child was received. “We sent them an email, we sent our termination request (…) We thought it was going to work, that we wanted to finish at the end of the month, that they were bound to find someone in September… The group’s answer is no. It’s 90 days and before June 1st, so we’re going to withdraw your deposit. It’s a deposit of 2,500 euros and twice a Smic, since a month at the crèche is a Smic. So almost 5000 euros“, explained the young mother who decided to seize a lawyer even if the conditions of termination are noted black and white in the registration contract.
Trouble is piling up for the People & Baby group, whose a structure was closed in Bordeaux on July 19 for three months by the Gironde prefecture, In its decree, made public by AFP, the prefecture underlines “inappropriate behavior of three professionals supervising children namely “inappropriate shouting and talking during outings in the outdoor area located in the parking lot of the building“. The report also a report by a doctor from the Maternal Childhood Protection of July 11 which denounces “(a) malaise of the children, (a) climate of discouragement and insecurity in the crèche, (the) presence of a child unknown to the professionals present and (a) operational manager who cannot be contacted“.