Senate passes child protection bill

After the National Assembly this summer, the Senate adopted the child protection bill on Tuesday, November 3. This text is marked by several strong measures to support and protect victims of violence, such as the imprescriptibility of sexual crimes committed against minors. The government project was widely adopted despite the abstention of the left, which was particularly alarmed by the absence of a financial component to ensure lasting resources for child protection.

Deputies and senators will meet in the coming weeks during a joint committee (CMP) to arrive at a common text, which will pave the way for its final adoption. Initially designed to reform child welfare (ASE) by notably facilitating family care rather than institutional care, the text ultimately took a very penal turn over the months, in the wake of certain dramatic news items involving children.

“Concrete responses to failures identified for too long”

Bétharram affair, scandal of violence in extracurriculars, murder of Lyhanna... The impact of these affairs was at the heart of the concerns of parliamentarians during the examination of this text in Parliament. The “comprehensive” bill against sexual and gender-based violence, adopted in the National Assembly, is supposed to complete this text. It must be examined in January in the Senate. “We were committed to in-depth reform of our child protection model. Today, a new step has been reached: the Senate has just adopted the bill. This text provides concrete responses to failures identified for too long,” greeted the Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, on X.

The high point of the debates was the vote for a small revolution for justice, with the imprescriptibility of sexual crimes committed against minors. The Senate, a chamber known to be conservative on these issues, finally opened up overwhelmingly to this development desired by victims' defense associations.