HASAt the heart of our society, there is a reality that is often ignored: that of the 377,000 children, adolescents and young adults who are victims of violence or neglect, taken care of by child welfare (ASE). They depend on the support and supervision of child protection social workers: educators, social service assistants, directors, department heads, housemasters, maintenance workers, administrative staff, family assistants, psychologists, and all other professionals who support young people on a daily basis to help them grow peacefully.
However, today, these shadow heroes are in distress, due to lack of resources and recognition. In 2019, the High Council of Social Work recorded 21 million days of absence among these professionals, a symbol of real suffering at work. At the same time, placements in foster families only concern 40% of children today, compared to 54% in the 2000s.
The consequences of this marginalization of the profession are disastrous. Nearly 97% of establishments in the child protection sector encounter recruitment difficulties, with 9% of vacant positions (compared to 5% on average for the health, social and medico-social sector), recourse to increasingly important temporary work, and many retirements to be expected between now and 2025.
The training of the next generations is also compromised: in ten years, the number of students enrolled in schools training in social professions has fallen by 6%, and nearly 10% of students stop in the first year.
Twenty years less life expectancy
Due to a lack of available professionals, many establishments and services welcoming children are forced to reduce their support capacity; 5% have even recently had to resign themselves to total service closures. Children in care are then forced to be accommodated with families or in other services, even though these trips do not correspond to their basic needs.
So how can we give children in protection the support they desperately need? However, should we remember that these young people risk losing twenty years of life expectancy due to lack of early care? That more than a quarter will leave the ASE without any diploma? That 36% of homeless people under the age of 25 have gone through the services of the ASE like them?
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