The Loire has nearly 2,400 children and young adults placed after a court decision. One-third received by family assistants, others are initially housed in homes that are often overcapacity, with living rooms sometimes transformed into bedrooms.
The Loire needs new family assistants (formerly host families) to better care for foster children. They educate nearly 800 young people in the department. 1,600 other minors are placed in homes or social houses. Structures headed by Romaric Pflug, director of the Departmental Home for Children and Families.
Children arrive in foster care most often after a court decision. “In the context of emergency reception, we have a theoretical initial duration of three months, renewable once, which allows us to make an overall assessment of the situation, to report on it. And then afterwards to estimate the follow-up to be given for the child, what is his interest? A return to the family or an orientation in another placement structure over the longer term?
But often their stay in an emergency shelter lasts more than six months because of a lack of space in specific structures. such as medico-educational institutes for disabled children. “It is always the interest of the child that will take precedence. And we continue our support and our reception until an appropriate solution is found. We receive 25 to 30% of children with disabilities and we knows that everything that is a specialized institution in France is sorely lacking in places.”
The departmental center for children and families therefore reaches an occupancy rate from 105 to 110%. “We always have beds. And then sometimes, unfortunately, in terms of reception conditions, it’s the living room that we transform into a bedroom, so as temporarily as possible. But it happens to us. For us, the most important thing is to respond to the public service mission for which we are. And it is clear that if we are needed for immediate reception, we respond.