2023-10-10 23:43:48
A new episode begins in the standoff that has long opposed the departments and the State over their responsibilities towards unaccompanied foreign minors. While the Assembly of Departments of France is due to meet on Wednesday October 11, the Secretary of State for Children, Charlotte Caubel indicates to the Monde that“it is time to act together with shared priorities, rather than having a certain number of departments which take political positions, for example on unaccompanied minors, and others which request general statements on the protection of childhood “referring to a request made this summer by the left-wing departments.
“I need political alignment to move forward together”she summarizes, inviting the representatives of the departments, leaders in child protection since 1983, to “clarify a common position”. At present, “all options are on the table” pour redefine the commitments of the State and the departments, assures the Secretary of State, including, “even if it is not its primary logic”, « la renationalisation » of child protection.
On Wednesday, the Assembly of French Departments (ADF) must vote on a resolution on this subject. In the draft resolution, that The world consulted, the departments denounce the failures of the State in its areas of competence (child psychiatry, disability care, etc.) and the consequences that this has on social assistance for children.
Read also: Education: unaccompanied minors “delayed” in their school career, according to Unicef
Support for unaccompanied foreign minors, of whom 24,300 were in care at the end of 2022, and the sensitive subject of the evaluation of their minority, are at the heart of the text. The departments are demanding that a national evaluation framework be established by the State, as well as additional financial support. Referring to departmental reception structures “saturated”despite an overall budget of nearly 10 billion euros, they want the government to be responsible for sheltering these young migrants while their age is determined, under migration policy.
Political fractures
The standoff between the departments and the State on this subject “is recurring”, underlines Corentin Bailleul, from Unicef. Muted during the pandemic period, it resurfaces thanks to the resumption of migratory flows, and in the perspective of the future law on immigration. If the draft text – debated in public session in the Senate from November 6 – does not address the issue of unaccompanied minors, it allows the right to raise the stakes on the subject. Last May, already, it was the president of Les Républicains (LR) of the Alpes-Maritimes department Charles Ange Ginésy who asked to transfer the responsibility for young migrants to the State during the period of assessment of their age.
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