Social. A health center dedicated to children in care will open in September in Paris, a first in France.

This is a first in France. On May 6, the foundation stone of a completely new type of facility was laid in Paris. The Asterya center will welcome 2,000 minors from child welfare services (ASE) starting in September, allowing them to undergo a comprehensive health assessment and benefit from multidisciplinary support (health, education, professional integration, etc.).

The initiative behind this system, which will be located in a former school, is Professor Céline Greco, head of the pain medicine and palliative medicine department at the Necker-Enfants Malades hospital in Paris, a former child in care, who is very involved in this vulnerable population.

The report of the commission of inquiry into "failures in public child protection policies" , published in April, calls for a generalization of this form of care, by financing the creation of a child support center per region. These regional centers could be supplemented by departmental centers to guarantee access to the care offered throughout the region.

Laurent Cambon, a sociologist specializing in the issue of family assistants, is considering a different kind of system. Similar to a medicalized residential center for the elderly (Ehpad), the sociologist proposes creating medicalized residential centers for children in ASE: "This would allow us to have medical staff in contact with these young people. The accommodation component would be funded by the Departments and the health component by the regional health agencies."

He elaborates: "Today, we know that there are no more psychiatrists; we're not going to invent them. Personally, I have a lot of faith in advanced practice nurses. Rather than waiting six months for an appointment at the CMP, a nurse present at all times would be able to assess the child's mental state."

For Bruno Roy, president of the National Association of Childminders, Assistants, and Family Welcoming Families (ANAMAAF), it would also be appropriate to develop the therapeutic family system. These families, who represent "less than 5%" of all family assistants, have specific training to care for children already receiving psychiatric care.

"They can especially call on professionals (child psychiatrists, psychologists, etc.) when the situation requires it, at any time," explains Bruno Roy.

Another proposal would also be to allow unconditional reimbursement of consultations with city psychologists for children subject to a child protection measure, without a limit of a predefined number of annual consultations, including once they are adults.