Child protection at risk: the ESEC’s recommendations

Child protection is in danger. With 344,682 minors and young adults in the care of child welfare services, all benefits and 
measures combined (+18% since 2011)¹  an average delay of more than 6 months in implementing protection measures and an 
unprecedented shortage of staff (30,000 vacancies in the medicosocial and educational sector²), these are the findings of the ESEC.
 

The ESEC has been asked by the President of the Senate to draw up an assessment of the three child protection laws, and points 
to a systemic crisis in child protection: There are no statistics, no evaluations, few controls, insufficient resources and budgetary 
means, a worrying failure to enforce court rulings, complex and poorly coordinated governance, serious problems with recruitment 
and the promotion of professions... It warns of malfunctions that persist or are getting worse and the huge gap that is emerging 
between the protective and comprehensive framework of existing laws and their application on the ground. Child protection is a 
textbook case of the lack of effectiveness of social policies. 

The lack of collective ambition, the disorganisation and exhaustion of those involved mean that children are put at risk.

¹ONPE 2022. ² Livre blanc du travail social, 2023.