On May 30, Lyes Louffok, a fervent activist for children’s rights, announced on Twitter that a 17-year-old young man placed in a home under the responsibility of Childhood Social Assistance (ASE) had just taken his life just a few weeks before coming of age. Placed since the age of three, he had been refused support beyond his majority. A common situation. “If I hadn’t had the support of my host family, I wouldn’t have made it because at just 18, you’re still a child,” explains Christian Hagg, who has become an educator. “We are not prepared at all for the exit from the system and overnight we are told goodbye,” he recalls. In France, approximately 200,000 children are cared for by the ASE, the successor to the DDASS, and 12% of them are adults. The latter, placed in foster families or in homes during their minority, have almost all experienced episodes of family breakdown which complicate the entry into adult life.
“At 18, I was on the street. My head was not studying, I lived from day to day” testifies Ibrahim, 26, a former foster child. After many runaways, he decided to leave his home for good at the age of 17. From there, he wanders the streets of Paris, doing odd jobs. Like him, 40% of homeless people under 25 have gone through the ASE, according to the collective Cause Majeur!. To avoid such chaotic entries into the adult world, a support system has existed since 1974: the young adult contract (CJM). This allows these young people in care to benefit from logistical, educational and financial support from the ASE. However, this contract is not automatic. The person who wishes to obtain it must justify his request in writing and specify a professional project which will lead him as quickly as possible to autonomy. The departments, which have supervision over the local ASEs, rule on this request.
Daouda, 19, benefited from the CJM for a year and did not think that the steps to obtain it would be so demanding: “When we are not yet 18, they make us dream, they say that they will keep until the age of 21. As soon as you turn 18, everything changes and you have to act quickly”. The percentage of rejection of these requests, their duration and the future of young people once they leave the system are not the subject of any data. “We do not know what has become of those we support, and the associations realize that it is a lack to build appropriate policies”, underlines Aurore Charlot, educator.
Territorial inequalities
For professionals, this contract has several limitations. With longer studies and more difficult access to the labor market, the median age of leaving the parental home is 25 years. The CJM can go to the maximum until the beneficiary is 21 years old, which is very rarely the case in practice. At 19, Kevin* benefited from a CJM which ended almost a year ago. He now works in the food industry and lives in a hostel for young workers. “At a very young age, we were pushed to go for an apprenticeship. After the 3rd year, I therefore turned to professional studies. My CJM was planned to last a year, but when I signed up, I was told that it would be shortened to 6 months because I was already learning and earning some money. I had to find accommodation very quickly, it was hard,” he says. For Lyes Louffok, a child rights activist, “the earlier the path to empowerment, the more there is a tendency to develop psychological disorders”.
The other limit of the contract relates to territorial inequalities. The National Child Protection Observatory estimates that 20,000 CJMs are established each year. The departments of the PACA region, for example, distribute fewer contracts than the rest of France. The political priority, the available budget and the size of the population concerned are all parameters that change the situation. The protection of adults often comes after that of minors. Conversely, in Seine-Saint-Denis, young adults represent 27% of the public received and the department almost systematically grants a CJM.
However, not all young people want to benefit from support. Thierry Rombout, general manager of the association Union pour l’Enfance, explains it by the desire to emancipate oneself. “The youngster was taken care of throughout his childhood. The CJM is to push his independence a little further”. Some host families continue to provide support free of charge. Other young adults must return to their original family, which has been deemed dysfunctional by the state. When none of these situations is possible, the person is referred to hotlines for homeless people.
A new law and a lot of vagueness
To remedy the shortcomings in the care of these young people, the Taquet law, named after the Secretary of State for Children at the time, was passed on February 7, 2022. This prohibits the ASE from expelling a person as soon as he reaches majority, enshrines the right to return of these young people in case of need, offers them priority access to social housing as well as a grant at the highest level for the prosecution long studies. Advances welcomed by the associations, including Cause Majeur!, which however regrets the “power of appreciation by the President of the departmental council concerning support up to 21 years”. Clearly, support for young adults from the ASE continues to depend in part on the goodwill of the departments.
The funding granted for the implementation of this reform remains largely below the demands of child protection associations. “We are giving new powers to the departments, but the State is only investing 50 million euros this year, when we estimated that it needed around 700 million euros”, specifies Florine Pruchon, coordinator of Major Cause!. Lyes Louffok, he calls for additional measures, such as the systematic appointment of a lawyer for all children placed at the ASE, so that they know their rights. He also pleads for an improvement in the working conditions of specialized educators, who are not always sufficiently numerous in the homes: “For the moment, there is no supervision rate regulated at the national level in the reception establishments, which leads to stressful situations for social workers”. Facilitating young people’s access to social assistance, once their support is complete, is also a point of progress often raised by associations. Projects that will soon be submitted to Charlotte Caubel, the new Secretary of State for Children.
*Name has been changed