CPS in France...A sewer by any other name smells just as bad.

Such a coincidence that every Western nation, even those that are still heavily "Christianized" (for the moment) seems to have their version of a "Child Protective" "Services" (CPS) beast system. In France, it is known as "Social Assistance for Children" (Aide Sociale à l'Enfance ... or ASE), but the similarities between the system in France and in much of the rest of the world are deep and familiar to readers of this blog.

ASE prides itself, publicly at least, on two main things: being first and foremost about repairing families and returning children to parents "aussi vite qui possible"...i.e. "as quickly as possible"...and...That their 332 arrondissements all have their unique characteristics, operating semi-autonomously from Paris and taking local factors into consideration at all times. Much like their counterparts in other parts of the world, however, this wonderful rhetoric is belied by the realities on the ground.

Children who are now grown adults and out of the ASE system have memories such as these (excerpt translated from the French:)

"(I had a) sense of being treated like a commodity, obligated to visit relatives who do not care about me, host families who never integrated me in as one of them, physical and psychological violence on the part of (the host) family, calls for help ignored by the ASE, impossibility to project oneself into the future..." Source: https://www.liberation.fr/france/2016/06/13/protection-de-l-enfance-le-numero-de-dossier-l-emporte-sur-le-jeune_1458920

Another adult gave this series of recollections (from the same source:)

"There was the radicalized Islamist host family. No one asked who they really were before giving us to them. When the couple divorced, no one considered if the woman was capable to continue to care for us alone. A woman is alone in taking care of kids and the ASE can not find anything wrong with such a situation? There was no control. There was also the problem of cronyism with the social worker, who had personal connections with the host family, not just professional ones. The visits were always scheduled, so the whole household was done, everything was perfect when he got there. I had to do the cleaning and then tell the guy that everything was going well. I wish there were unannounced checks. I was transferred to lots of places and it destabilized me. You are told 'you have a place for two years and then you have to change,' and there are homes that close in the summer, during the holidays. It shocks me. It is the kids who pay the consequences."

(unidivers.fr.)

Sound familiar? Sure there are cultural differences, but there are also some obvious markers here to suggest that CPS has been "internationalized" in some type of coordinated fashion. Lots of falsified and staged "show/pubic flashes" of goodness that is surface deep, constant movement of children from one placement to another, the ill effects of the money factor...A lot that is similar here to elsewhere, for sure.

When asked about the attachment issues (or non-availability) between child and foster family, given all the multiple placements, another adult responded negatively. Here is another excerpt:

"It's a little complicated. I do not know ... In fact, I'm not for the profession of family assistant, we see the problems. Money motivates this job [the reception of placed children was the only source of income for the mother of her second foster family] When I lodged a complaint against my second host family, she told the police she was earning 3,000 euros a month to babysit!...Child protection is 8 billion euros of public spending, only to have 40% of kids wind up homeless at the exit of their placements [Note: in fact, according to a 2006 INSEE study, 23% of the homeless are ex-"ESA kids", compared to 2% from the general population...] We need to expect much more for an expenditures of 8 billion euros, but we must redistribute this money by re-configuring the protection of childhood. We must give a coherent diagram. Each department has its own plan, it blurs the national picture: in one department there is more prevention, in another more placements [home or host family, ed] ... I want a national policy."

(lozere.fr.)

So, in the end, it's all about resources and the improper application of resources. Three thousand Euros per month ($3500/ month) is a great babysitting job for many people in France, who, like people anywhere may be far more inclined to be motivated by that than to care about the level of care they give to kids. Knowing that kids will not be staying with one couple--even a good couple who truly cares--for just a short time, has got to be disheartening for children. Many have described the constant movement from foster home to foster home as being put through the initial trauma of seizure from their homes, over and over again.

In France, putting troubled children with radicalized Muslims is an issue that probably should be addressed. Some of these people have made killing Westerners the goal of their existence, for crying out loud. I've covered a similar troubling preferment situation here in the USA with gay couples being placed ahead of others for adoptions. Putting children from one social/cultural context into another that is so radically different makes the already wrenching experience of being pulled from a family/home setting all the more traumatic.

Other adults in France who are post-ASE placement individuals cite the literal "file number" that identifies them, that they hear repeatedly, and that follows them throughout the sometimes-multiyear journey through the system as a "dehumanizing factor," and that the case workers that they encountered seemed very cold and clinical. Lack of empathy on the part of both ASE professionals and host families popped up continually in these surveys.

(lelanceur.fr.)

It's all about the money, is the summary refrain. Which, of course, raises the ultimate conundrum...how do you obtain and retain good caseworkers and foster care people without paying them well, BUT...how do you pay them so well, and yet have their motivations being on the children they "serve?"

I am tempted to answer from my own biases that "YOU CAN'T" and to fall back on the "abolishing CPS altogether" stance. But not all countries have the same advantages/abilities to eliminate CPS and to redress the problems with large stable communities of caring citizens to act as buffers, watchdogs and volunteers/contributors. As destabilized as the USA has become due to the efforts of radical socialists and others, we are a veritable rock of stability compared to many parts of France that have been even more horrendously destabilized by mass immigration of people with no interest in ever becoming French.

(ouest-france-fr.)

At least, unlike the situation we wrote about recently with Norway's CPS being over-ruled and hauled into the European Courts in The Hague, the French ASE, so far, has not drawn the ire of international organizations to the same level. That doesn't necessarily mean things are better there, but just that the French do a better job of putting on a proper public face. As the "gillette jaunes" movement continues into it's 16th week, and as the French government continues to put forward radical green tax proposals, further destabilization could put ASE more and more into the spotlight, however.

Unlike the USA, France IS a signatory to The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, so that is an issue pulling families in one direction, for sure. The French Catholic Church, while not roiled by the pedophile charges as badly as in other nations, has largely been rejected more by a French populace that is broadly secularized/"modernized"--so that stabilization factor has largely been muted and over-ridden by frequent socialist governments.

Emanuel Macron was always the lesser of many evil choices in the eyes of French voters (though Marine LePen may have been a better choice, especially v.v. the destabilizing effects of massive unchecked immigration) he has exposed himself as a tool of the European super elites. France is in turmoil, and it doesn't show any signs of getting better any time soon. As usual, the children will pay the greatest price if things spiral completely out of control.

ASE, like it's cross-oceanic counterparts is simply not ever going to be up to the challenge of replacing parents. Governments are simply incapable of being parents. The sooner liberals figure that out, the better--for everyone.