Tender gestures multiplied between Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron during the closing of the ceremony for the awarding of the medal for childhood and families on March 16, 2022 at the Elysée Palace. At a time when the battle for the presidential elections is tough and the conflict in Ukraine serious, the couple offered moments of complicity and affection, in keeping with the themes of benevolence and respect for this event. The family is their pillar for this duo: Brigitte Macron (68) is the mother of three children born from her first marriage with André-Louis Auzière. She now has seven grandchildren who tenderly call out her 44-year-old husband and head of state “daddy“.
Adrien Taquet, Secretary of State for Children and Families, presented the first medals for Children and Families that day at the Elysée Palace, in the presence of the President of the Republic and his wife Brigitte Macron, as well as the president of the National Union of Family Associations, Madame Marie-Andrée Blanc. Created in 1920, the “family medal” has distinguished since the interwar period the mothers, then also the fathers of large families, as well as people who have rendered exceptional services in the field of the family.
The visual of the now “Childhood and Family Medal” was created through a competition organized this winter between all the students of art schools in France under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture. Its winner, the young artist Lohan Blois, was present at the ceremony which saw twenty-four families, a parental nursery professional, a childminder, and a maternal and child protection professional.
As part of this promotion was also decorated, for exceptional services Marie-Paule Martin Blachais, former director general of the Public Interest Group “Enfance en Danger”, former director of “Childhood and Family” in the department of Eure-et -Loir, author of the report on the fundamental needs of the child in child protection. Posthumously, George Labazée, who died on February 3, 2022, former deputy, senator and president of the general council, was also honored while he held the position of vice-president of the national council for child protection.
“The holding of this Childhood and Family Medal Ceremony at the highest level of the State is the sign of our deep attachment to the family, and the reflection of five years of proactive, ambitious and concrete family policy. to fight against inequalities of destiny and to build every day a society that knows how to better welcome them. The extension of the award criteria to all families who have faced particular hardships as well as to child and family professionals also gives us the opportunity to finally pay tribute to all of them from“, said Adrien Taquet.