They gathered as a collective to demand the closure of the micro-nursery where they kept their children. In Neuilly-sur-Marne, in Seine-Saint-Denis, around thirty parents are calling for the closure of the private micro-crèche “BB Doudou”. They denounce in particular the mistreatment of their children and the pressure put on the staff of the establishment.
>> “I shot myself in the foot, but I respected my values”, testifies the former director of a micro-nursery
VSa is not the first micro-nursery to be called into question by parents who often withdraw their children before reporting problematic cases to the departments. Several conflicts are ongoing, particularly in Ile-de-France, around these private structures which accommodate a maximum of twelve children at a time.
Claire’s daughter has been cared for in the “BB Doudou” micro-nursery for several months when the manager decides to part with some of her staff, putting the remaining auxiliaries under pressure. “We are about to crack, we are humiliated, we are insulted”: this is what some of them would have said to the mother, who then explains “to see them completely panicked“.
At “BB Doudou”, a nursery director, not authorized to look after the children, nevertheless sometimes finds herself managing them herself. “When she is there, it is true that there is mistreatment”, summarizes the mother who adds that she then recovers her daughter “in a state of regression”.
“She had been sleeping through the night since she was two months old, it was a real pleasure. Since January, it’s screwed up.”
Claire therefore leaves the “BB Doudou” micro-crèche, and her daughter is urgently placed by the city in a municipal crèche. She has since questioned the very model of these private structures. “Setting up a micro-nursery is rather simple” observes the resident who explains that it is necessary “a little cash, and there’s no need to have a degree related to early childhood. Just hire someone who is”. According to her, “everyone has the right to want to make a profit and grow a business, but when it’s to the detriment of the well-being of children, it’s not normal”.
Facilities that explain the boom in the market: nearly 8,000 places in micro-crèches were created in 2019, for example. With a certain lucrative logic, says Cyrille Godfroy, from the Union of Early Childhood Professionals. “Indeed, we will necessarily favor a family that will perhaps provide additional funding and therefore ensure the operation of the structure, or even ensure the profits, rather than a family that only brings in its own income”he says.
There therefore remains the question of checks by the PMI centres, the Maternal and Child Protection. Ève Robert, in the department of Seine-Saint-Denis, affirms that the situation is well managed, and frequent visits: “We regularly receive reports, but we have not identified today any difficulties that would be completely endemic or recurrent on this type of structure.” Be careful not to generalize, conclude several early childhood professionals for whom these dysfunctions remain special cases.