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After the death of a 13-month-old baby who was the subject of a child protection measure, the IGAS is concerned about the risk of infant death due to the difficulties in the sector.
It was a real tragedy that happened on November 16, 2021. A 13-month-old baby died in the street while he was the subject of a child protection order. According to the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (IGAS), the difficulties encountered in the sector are to blame. They could even lead to an increase in the number of infant deaths.
A chain of unfavorable circumstances
In the case of this infant, the IGAS report highlights a series of unfavorable circumstances and failures:
- The precarious housing conditions of the family, living in a social hotel room not suitable for an infant;
- The absence of a health check for the parents when they arrived in France (even though they had experienced a traumatic journey of exile);
- The family’s history and suspicions of mistreatment were lost sight of following faulty relays during the family’s geographic roaming;
- The possibility of abuse was pushed into the background in the face of the parents’ assertions;
- Finally, putting the priority AEMO measure on hold (educators come to see if everything is going well) (…) constituted an additional loss of opportunity.
And yet: the baby, victim of regular abuse (multiple fractures), should have been away from his parents a long time ago.
Dramas that repeat themselves
This story is reminiscent of the Marina case, in 2009, also followed in child protection.
“The partitioning between actors, the communication deficits, the hypothesis of a genetic origin of the fractures, the insufficient taking into account of the medical diagnoses, the vagueness in the modalities of the interventions at home, the denial of acts of violence by the parents and geographic homelessness of families are similarities between the two situations“, notes the report.
Failures which therefore persist and which may even worsen according to the IGAS.
In this context, the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs wonders whether the placement of children should not be favored over an educational assistance measure in an open environment (home intervention by a social worker for a variable duration).
A more radical solution, but necessary for very young children (0-3 years old) according to Michèle Créoff, child protection specialist, interviewed by Radio France.
“A baby cannot leave alone or alert if he is the victim of violence. This is a measure that should be reserved for the older ones. But we continue to take it for two reasons: firstly because it is heartbreaking to separate a mother from her baby and it is hard to believe that violence against a baby is possible; and second, it costs much less than a nursery or foster care placement. It’s cynical but the life of these children, who are considered nobody’s children, is less valuable than the life of other children and it is sacrificed on the financial problems of the departments.”