emergency aid for victims will be “generalized from December 1,” announces Minister Aurore Bergé

The aid is 600 euros on average. The objective is to give an abused woman the means to leave home.

The emergency aid granted to victims of domestic violence, which Parliament voted for as part of a bill unanimously adopted on January 16, will be “generalized from December 1”, announced Monday, November 20 on France Inter Aurore Bergé, Minister of Solidarity and Families. In 2022, 245,000 people were victims of domestic violence and 118 women died at the hands of their partner.

“Today, on average, a female victim will go back and forth seven times between the moment she wants to leave and the moment she actually leaves”, supports Aurore Bergé. However, she continues, this woman victim “does not necessarily have the means”. Indeed, how does she manage to “to be able to take a train and join your family, to have a first night in a hotel?” asks Aurore Bergé.

Minimum and automatic assistance

From December 1, a person who finds themselves in this type of situation “will be able to request emergency aid which will be automatically paid to her to guarantee her first days, her first two, three weeks when she will be able to leave. Then, she will be accompanied, supported with all the State services which made available to her to ensure that the departure is a real departure and that she does not return home”explains Aurore Bergé.

From a practical point of view, the request for this emergency aid must be made to the Family Allowance Fund (CAF), whether by calling it, by going there physically, or via its website Internet. The applicant “will have access to emergency assistance within three to five days maximum”, continues the Minister of Solidarity and Families. At the Ministry of Solidarity, it is specified that this emergency aid will be “on average 600 euros”, with a minimum of 243 euros, an amount that will vary depending on resources and the number of children. “L‘ideasupports Aurore Bergé, it’s so that the mother can leave with her family.”

The minister speaks of a “real simplification” and D’“an immediate response to very concrete problems: from the moment you experience domestic violence and you have the courage to tell yourself that for your survival or that of your children, ‘you have to leave’, that’s the whole company which must make itself available to you so that this can be possible”declares Aurore Bergé.

Support conditional on a protection order, filing a complaint or reporting

If the CAFs were chosen to make the link between the victim of domestic violence and emergency assistance, it is because there are “everywhere in the territory, in the departments”and that the people who work there are “identified people, agents who can be trusted”, argues the minister. Aurore Bergé wishes that “the person who has already experienced violence should take a simple approach, with people they know and in whom they can trust”. The minister adds that “CAF can make the payment in just a few days into a bank account”.

“This aid will be granted to any victim in an immediate emergency situation, in the form of a donation or interest-free loan, depending on the financial and social situation of the victim”, wrote the government when adopting the bill. This financial support will be conditional on a protection order, a complaint being filed or a report sent to the public prosecutor. When the aid is granted in the form of a loan, its repayment will be the responsibility of the person found guilty of violence if applicable, with an additional penalty. “reimbursement obligation”.