Since her complaint of sexual assault on her daughter is filed, this mother has been on the run with her child

Since the beginning of March, Fanny has been on the run with her daughter Maëva. Her complaint of sexual assault against the girl’s father was dismissed.

It is a reality that would strike nearly one in ten children in France. Incest, a real scourge still marked by the seal of taboo in our modern societies, is an event that turns the lives of victims upside down. When this is orchestrated by a parent (mostly by the father), children who are victims of incestuous sexual assault sometimes find themselves forced to visit or reside with the same parent. It is a judicial decision of this type which sealed the fate of Maëva, 5 years old and of her mother, Fanny Birenbaum, 31 years old, a former nurse converted into the paramedical.

Read also: A child psychiatrist banned from practicing after denouncing acts of child abuse

In the spring of 2020, this mother lodged a complaint with the gendarmerie of Clapiers (Hérault) for acts of incest, attributable to her ex-companion. According to his statements, his daughter would have mentioned acts of sexual assault committed by her father when she was at his home, the little one being in joint custody. “Mom, dad, he touches my pussy with his fingers”, the little girl would have explained to her mother, evoking the repeated sexual abuse exercised on her during the night in her bed, as reported by Actu Occitanie.

Read also: “If you can’t say it, write it”: letter boxes in schools to fight against violence and incest

It should be noted that the incestuous suspicions arose in an already very precarious family context since before the birth of Maëva, in 2013, Fanny’s ex-spouse was found guilty of violence. A few years later, when the girl was one year old, the couple broke up and began a heavy battle for custody.

A complaint dismissed and a placement

In March, little Maëva’s case went to juvenile court. A judge decided to place the latter in child welfare as part of a personalized support service at the father’s home. Fanny therefore lost custody of her daughter and could only see her twice a month, only in the presence of a third party.

Karin Teepe, psychologist at the Maison des Femmes de Saint-Denis, talks about incest

Video by Clara Poudevigne

This is how the young woman made the decision to flee with her daughter, which today earned her an arrest warrant against her. A judicial investigation was opened for aggravated subtraction of minor.

Reform the law of non-representation of children

Listening to the chilling confidences of her daughter, Fanny, like many other mothers, had resigned herself not to bring her back to her father. However, in France, not presenting your child to the other parent exposes heavy penalties. Her ex-spouse having filed a complaint against her, the young woman was placed in police custody for non-representation of a child.

To read also: Incest “A secret under duress, it’s not a pretty secret”: teaching children to speak without fear

On Twitter, Sunday May 30, the association Protect the child, which campaigns to reform the law of non-representation of children, revived the debate. Questioned by Aufeminin, its president, Céline, regrets that the parent who denounces acts of mistreatment is systematically implicated. “In France, protective parents, mostly mothers, are sentenced to prison terms for non-representation of a child (penal code 227-5). Some of them are summoned to police custody as delinquents, with fingerprints and / or muscular interrogation, simply because they wanted to protect the child from a plausible danger – touching, incest, violence , abuse. ”

To read also: “Zézette, foufoune, vulva …”: what names to give to the private parts of our children?

In the event of suspicion of incest and any other violence, the association Protect the Child advocates, among other things, better listening to the child and the systematic implementation of the precautionary principle. It is not normal for a mother, like Fanny, to have to go to such extremes and risk her life to protect her child.

Barbara ejenguele

A journalism student, Barbara is currently doing a work-study master’s degree and writes on parenthood for the Aufeminin Maman, Parole de Mamans and Avis de Mamans websites. She is also …