Child prostitution in ASE: three department presidents accused of failing to protect minors in care

Although designed as a refuge for minors from failing families, the Child Welfare Service (ASE), governed by the departments, is once again accused of itself endangering the children placed under its responsibility. Here, for extremely serious acts, despite being known to public officials : adolescents, mostly young girls, victims of prostitution networks. This Wednesday, April 29, families of children in the ASE filed a lawsuit against three departmental councils—Essonne, Yvelines, and Bouches-du-Rhône—for negligence in liability, reveals France Info . The accusations directly target the presidents of these territories, under their jurisdiction over child protection.

"We are raising the alarm so that everyone knows that in France, at the moment, little boys and girls are prostituting themselves in very large numbers, with the total inaction of departmental presidents," lawyer Michel Amas told France Info, denouncing a "national phenomenon." For the council, which is representing around thirty children, it is the lack of reaction and organization of the State in the protection of these minors in care that is targeted. In short, serious failings. He protests: "We are delivering children to the dogs."

This is the case of the eldest daughter of a mother quoted by the public media. At just 13 years old, she found herself caught up in a prostitution network, held captive by pimps in an Airbnb in Toulon, "forced to take cocaine, to make passes ." A teacher agrees: "In Marseille there is not a home I have set foot in where there is no prostitution." She speaks of a well-oiled system, with "kids" who, from 10 p.m. onwards, get ready and "cars that parade by."

These testimonies are not isolated cases . In France, 15,000 to 20,000 minors are victims of prostitution, the vast majority of whom are girls and the vast majority of whom come from ASE (social assistance). Targeted by pimps, the shelters run away from home by the Child Welfare Service (Aide sociale à l'enfance) are the focus of criticism : lack of supervision and staff, minors running away, lack of medical and psychological monitoring, etc. Today, the shelters are only inspected every five years by the departments. These are weaknesses that prostitution networks know how to exploit.

These dysfunctions are so serious that a commission of inquiry into "failures in public child protection policies" was launched in April 2024 at the National Assembly and issued a damning report a year later. According to France Info, the Ministry of Justice acknowledged a critical situation, citing a failure. A circular was reportedly sent earlier this week to strengthen controls in ASE homes, and an audit by each prosecutor's office of all placement facilities by the end of the year.