Children “invisible“. This is how the Defender of Rights described children with disabilities in France, in his annual report on children’s rights. According to this study, 70,000 children entrusted to Social Assistance to Children suffer from a lack of support and supervision of their disability, which goes against the respect of their fundamental rights.
Children victims of institutional dysfunction
These children are at the crossroads of several public policies: child protection policy, disability policy, parenting support policy, education and schooling policy and policy to fight poverty and exclusion. In the end, their rights do not fit into any of them. What makes these children “victims of the inability to overcome institutional silos, the stacking of systems and the multiplicity of actors“, according to the report of the Defender of Rights. As no law provides for specific measures in these cases, many children with disabilities do not have answers adapted to their needs and are constrained “to stay at home or by default in child protection structures, and are thus deprived of some of their fundamental rights“reveals this report.
Disability weakens families
Moreover, while these children should benefit from double attention, the lack of support often leaves families alone to face daily difficulties (placement in a specialized structure, care, schooling, financial assistance, etc.). The consequences on family life are also worrying: “failures in institutional care and poor recourse to comprehensive and qualitative early prevention place a heavy burden on families that are sometimes initially weakened or which become more fragile with the onset of disability (precariousness, family conflicts, etc.)“deplore the authors of this report.
Raise awareness among teachers and school doctors
To improve the rights of disabled children and come to the aid of their families, the Defender of Rights is making several proposals: better communication between Social Assistance for Children and the Departmental Homes for People with Disabilities, systematic sharing of the medical file of the child between all the health professionals who follow him for better coordination, support for parents, or even awareness-raising among teachers and school doctors on the management and recognition of certain disabilities. Indeed, some disorders, such asautism, are sometimes difficult to detect and supervise in a school environment. However, today, one in 100 children is affected by an autistic disorder in France.
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