the painful reconstruction of children

“I don’t understand why he did that. maybe he was late” At 7 years old, Rose cannot understand the motivations that led a man to rush into the crowd with a truck on the night of July 14, 2016 in Nice (Alpes-Maritimes). Rose has fallen asleep in her stroller when the truck starts its crazy race. In a panic, some passers-by stumble over the child. Michèle Battista, child psychiatrist at Lenval Hospital accompanying Rose, explains that “for children it is very quickly that we must act, not as soon as a symptom appears. It’s before.”

In 2018, two years after the tragedy, Rose’s mother explained that she saw a change in her daughter’s behavior, from a natural calm and serene. Others were struck when they were not yet born. This is the case of Chloé, born the night of the attack. The medical teams are formal: the fetus is affected by the trauma experienced by the mother. Like Rose, 1,000 children are supported by the Lenval hospital in order to manage post-traumatic stress.