A games cupboard, snack cakes and children’s train tickets. For a year, Charlotte Ménard has made all this appear in her Parisian apartment, at the same time as Souleiman entered the life of this 30-year-old psychologist. “We went to the park, to the funfair, to the swimming pool, to the cinema”, lists the child of 7 and a half years, educated not far away, in Saint-Ouen, in Seine-Saint-Denis. The boy finds his “godmother” every fortnight, for the afternoon or for part of the weekend, and sometimes for a week during the holidays. “We always see each other at the same pace. At first it was a lot outside and then he asked to come and sleep. Last summer I took him to Granville for a week [Manche] at my parents. It happened very quickly”explains the young woman.
The duo met through the association France Parrainages, which offers godparents the opportunity to devote time on a voluntary basis to a child, a teenager or a young person, in a situation of fragility living near their home, and outside their environment. Specialized in child protection, Charlotte had discovered the device through her professional practice, by ensuring the follow-up of beneficiary children. “I observed a real appeasement in them”, she says. The idea germinated to launch a personal approach when she moved to Paris. “That means being available over the long term. I felt it was the right time for me”, she comments. The 30-year-old wanted to sponsor a child rather than a teenager, who is geographically close to her home, “so as not to have to cross all of Paris”.
After an information meeting and several interviews with the team of the France Parrainages association, Charlotte saw her application validated. She was presented to Souleiman in the presence of the boy’s mother and the social worker who manages the file of this single-parent and precarious family. Souleiman benefits from the Educational Success Program, which offers personalized follow-up to students in difficulty. It was in this context that he heard about local sponsorship, and immediately applied for it.
A gift of time
“Unlike international sponsorship, it is not a financial donation but a donation of time, explains Intissar Koussa, responsible for the activities of the children’s aid association, created in 1947. This godfather or godmother will become a tutor of resilience, a figure who will accompany the child over time. » For two, three, fifteen years or for life, depending on the needs of the godson and the abilities of the sponsor, and at a pace that suits both. “He is a child who is brought into his family intimacy, reminds the representative. In 75% of cases, it is hosted at least once a month and half of the school holidays. » According to the latest internal study from 2014, 40% of sponsorships lasted fifteen years on average.
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