It’s necessary “fix bugs” the protection of child victims of abuse and incest. This is what eight child protection associations, professionals, or bringing together mothers to Emmanuel Macron are demanding in an open letter consulted on Tuesday May 31 by AFP. These structures – CDP Enfance, Reppea, Protecting the Child, Peau d’Âme, #WeToo, Preventing and Protecting, Childhood Collective, Innocence in Danger – ask “that each time the terms ‘parental alienation syndrome’, ‘parental alienation’ (…) are used by a judge or by an expert, a second opinion is systematically carried out and the final decision is taken in a collegiate”.
Developed by the very controversial American psychiatrist Richard Gardner, the “parental alienation syndrome” (PAS) lends to one of the parents the intention to manipulate their child to exclude the other parent. Not officially recognized, it is mentioned during legal proceedings and, according to associations, is used to discredit the word of the child who evokes incestuous facts.
“A low rate of reports by doctors”
In addition, the signatory associations request that “the Council of the Order of Physicians can no longer exercise disciplinary sanctions for interference in family life against doctors who have issued medical certificates in such contexts”. “The fear of these sanctions contributes to the low rate of reports made by doctors”, they justify, while according to the High Authority of Health, only 5% of reports of abuse come from doctors. This comes as the Council of State canceled, on Monday, the temporary ban on practicing medicine imposed by the Order of Physicians on a child psychiatrist from Toulouse, Eugénie Izard, for having reported suspicions of abuse to a judge of the children.
Adults seeking to protect child victims of abuse and incest “very often come up against a wall of virulent attacks from the Council of the Order of Physicians and the judicial institution, devices that are nevertheless responsible for the protection of children”believe the associations.