the grueling struggle of the parents of underage prostitutes

The prostitution of minors, which affects all circles, continues to wreak havoc: up to 10,000 young people are reportedly affected in France. A France 2 team met mothers who fight or have fought to get their daughters out of these clutches. Jennifer Pailhé is now reunited with her daughter, but she had to fight a two-year struggle to achieve it. At the time, her 14-year-old child was living in a home in the Paris region, because of serious family problems. She falls under the influence of her first love, who manages to manipulate her into prostitution through Internet ads. “In Airbnbs, if not in hotels and when there was nothing, it was in buildings or in cars“, says the latter.

Jennifer Pailhé filed a complaint and crossed France several times to locate her daughter who regularly ran away from her foster home. “I contact her educator, I take screenshots, I provide them to social services, I contact the children’s judge, I write to the Minister of Justice … I shake up justice”, she explains to France 2. “And by the time I boost them all, the supportive response I get from them is a release from placement without educational measures.” Clearly, justice interrupts the care of his daughter, therefore left to herself.

She finally manages to reconnect, with the help of a police superintendent. His daughter’s pimp is now in prison and will be tried for rape, forcible confinement and aggravated prostitution. “The question of influence is not taken into account at all” by social services, denounces another mother, whose daughter continues to prostitute herself. “It is no longer possible to know and do nothing.” The association “Our Forgotten Teenagers” calls for the creation of new places of reception, more suitable than the centers of social assistance to children. A first unique project in France will see the light of day this month in Lille (Nord).