With 4,000 subscribers, the Facebook page “No children on rue Blois” is an ode to their successful mobilization: since October 25, it lists the new sheltering of children, the fruitful meetings with elected officials, publications in the press too. On the ground, there are a few dozen parents and resourceful teachers, led by Julien Colin, teacher at Mirabeau primary school.
“We wanted to create solidarity and serve as whistleblowers to make visible families who were no longer visible,” he said, referring to African mothers whose right to asylum was rejected, under the influence of an obligation to leave the territory. They arrive in Blois with their young children, coming from Orléans or Ile-de-France where emergency reception structures are saturated.
To this large family shivering near a school, parents made their Airbnb available for three days, others offered a night in a hotel. Then the education deputy received text messages. “With the agreement of the mayor [Marc Gricourt, Parti socialiste]I said ok to accommodate several families in three schools, knowing that all the street children were educated there during the day, explains Benjamin Vétélé. We are responding to the emergency but it is the responsibility of the State to provide shelter to homeless families. »
The city of Blois has, however, intensified its approach: two apartments on the first floor of a Youth Space have been offered to nine children and two mothers. Members of the collective take turns to provide meals, clothing, hygiene products. “I have one of these kids in my class. Since he knows he is safe and well cared for, he has rediscovered his joy of living”says Pascale Orgelet, professor at the Victor-Hugo school.
“Some are hosted by our own means”
The collective towed to the doors of the Maison de la BD in Blois where a festival was being held, and landed an interview with the Departmental Council. “We are largely taking our share of emergency reception but we are caught up by our saturated systems”, reacted Florence Doucet, vice-president responsible for child protection, in The New Republic. One hundred and fifty children under the age of 3 and their mothers are currently housed by the department, a record. A reception structure for thirty-five single mothers must also be created in 2025.
On November 20, the collective gathered 500 supporters in front of the gates of the Loir-et-Cher prefecture “to remind the State of its mission of unconditional housing for all children”. Flags of the New Anti-Capitalist Party and the Communist Party were invited. The prefect recalled having increased its emergency accommodation stock: 310 more places in 2023, compared to 190 in 2022. Then he moved. “A little bit, with the sheltering of several additional families in hotels, summarizes Julien Colin. He now claims that there are no more children on the street, but that is not true. Some are hosted by our own means, thanks to chains of solidarity which may very well be undone tomorrow. »
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