Abuse at French after-school programmes: Parents sound the alarm • FRANCE 24 English

Added: 2026-05-06

[00:00:22]Getting children to behave using fear is a form of violence.

[00:00:28]Reports of child abuse at lunchtime and during after-school programs have been on the rise.

[00:00:35]We've heard some awful stories recently.

[00:00:38]I'm very worried for my child and for the other children, too.

[00:00:43]Parents across France have been sounding the alarm in recent years. Defending a system is like a family with secrets.

[00:00:50]Everyone has to be in on it.

[00:00:52]A culture of silence, flawed recruitment practices, [music] and inadequate training for staff, it's a dangerous and dysfunctional state of [music] affairs.

[00:01:08]An impromptu gathering in front of City Hall in Paris.

[00:01:13]Several dozen parents, still reeling from the revelations of abuse, including sexual assault, in local [music] kindergartens.

[00:01:22]The incidents are said to have taken place at lunchtime and during the after-school programs [music] supervised by non-teaching staff.

[00:01:31]What we'd like is to restore trust as soon as possible so we can all get back to normal. As for my children, I try to keep them out of after-school [music] and extracurricular programs as much as possible, but obviously at lunchtime it's a bit more complicated.

[00:01:45]In 2026 [music] alone, 78 employees were suspended in Paris.

[00:01:51]31 of them [music] on suspicion of sexual abuse.

[00:01:55]Since the scandal came to light, Natalie's been [music] plagued by guilt.

[00:02:00]Her son, now 8 years old, attended one of the dozens of schools involved.

[00:02:03][music] To think I used to drop my son off there.

[00:02:11]For 3 years, 3 long years, there were two predators.

[00:02:16]It's just so hard.

[00:02:19]There's unimaginable pain.

[00:02:22]Anger.

[00:02:25]Hatred.

[00:02:27]At the time he'd have very violent outbursts. We didn't understand why. He wasn't well. He was always saying, "I hate them. I don't like it. I don't want to go to the after-school club."

[00:02:39]She also recalls some disturbing scenes.

[00:02:44]Once I got there a little bit early, it wasn't the usual time that I pick him up, and the little ones were having their snacks in the hall, just sitting there with the lights out.

[00:02:55]Poor little things. They looked quite sad with their snacks laid out, not a sound.

[00:03:00]I asked, "What's going on? Is there a problem with the electricity?"

[00:03:03]They looked embarrassed and said, "Oh, no, no, no, we were just having quiet time. They were a bit rowdy, so we're having a little quiet time here."

[00:03:10]All right, okay.

[00:03:13]Like other parents, [music] she had tried to raise the alarm, but no one listened.

[00:03:18]>> [music] >> I mentioned it. I spoke to the head teacher. We all thought, "This is crazy." So we decided to keep quiet. If it's not happening to my child, if my child is not crying, then that's that.

[00:03:32]Other parents were completely unaware of the climate at that same school.

[00:03:37]Olivier's children started there last September.

[00:03:41]Soon his daughter began having serious trouble sleeping, and his son would regularly come home with bruises and scratches.

[00:03:49]He came home once with his lip swollen three times its normal size. It was always brushed aside, played down, and they said, "Oh, he fell over in the playground."

[00:04:01]>> [music] >> In January, the family's life was turned upside down. A few days before a television report was aired about violence in after-school programs in Paris, video clips were already being shared among parents.

[00:04:17]I was with my wife on Thursday afternoon, and she said to me, "Something's going on. You need to check the parents' WhatsApp group. Something's happening."

[00:04:28]Olivier and his wife recognized their children's school.

[00:04:33]When the children came home from school, naturally, we asked them, "What's been happening at school?"

[00:04:39]And so they told us what had been going on.

[00:04:44]They told us about the violence and the shouting.

[00:04:48]But they also told us about sexual abuse.

[00:04:52]Certain behavior, the inappropriate touching.

[00:04:57]My daughter talked about certain incidents, about being raped.

[00:05:05]There was a male supervisor and also a female supervisor who preyed on her.

[00:05:12]They took her into a classroom on her own and inserted toys into her genitals.

[00:05:24]The family had to face another horrific scenario.

[00:05:27]During sessions with a child psychologist, their son also revealed he'd suffered sexual abuse.

[00:05:35]Now, several months after they first opened up, both children are still suffering from severe after-effects.

[00:05:42]They display the typical symptoms observed in victims of abuse.

[00:05:50]A child who was doing well and who then suddenly starts having trouble sleeping, getting angry, masturbating, not eating, not wanting to go to school, avoiding all sorts of things.

[00:06:02]That's a child who's suffering and who, unfortunately, through his symptoms, will drag the whole family into a state of post-traumatic distress.

[00:06:15]Just this morning I received a message on Instagram from a mother.

[00:06:19]Her daughter is showing very clear signs of trauma.

[00:06:22]She doesn't know exactly what happened, but the signs are really worrying.

[00:06:29]Anne and Elizabeth receive stories like this every day.

[00:06:33]They're both mothers and have also dealt with problems regarding their children's after-school care.

[00:06:38]In 2021, they set up a collective and encouraged other people to come forward with their experiences.

[00:06:45]They were quickly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of responses, which came from all over France.

[00:06:52]The first 10 days we received just over 80 accounts from families just in Paris, and that's when we realized very, very quickly that this was a systemic issue.

[00:07:01]A widespread problem linked to the absence of a national framework and to flaws in the recruitment process and training of youth workers. These roles are generally undervalued, poorly paid, and there are insufficient candidates.

[00:07:17]Some activity leaders are fed up.

[00:07:20]They used to have an optimistic view of the job, but when they find themselves in those conditions, it's only a few hours a week.

[00:07:29]Most of them tell us they can't make a living from this job.

[00:07:35]The collective's website contains a map of the complaints they've recorded, categorized by types of abuse.

[00:07:42]Over 80% of those cases involve physical and psychological abuse, but these are often downplayed by adults.

[00:07:52]Everyone knows that hitting a child is against the law. Raping a child is against the law. But shouting at a child, insulting them, pressuring them, is that really against the law?

[00:08:02]We don't know.

[00:08:04]It's also a cultural issue. There's still a real culture of punishment in France. And there's a lack of consideration for what the child has to say. Even in this day and age, a child is not always seen as having full legal rights, and yet children do have rights.

[00:08:19]Following their children's revelations, Olivier and his wife immediately [music] filed a complaint with the police, like dozens of other parents at the school.

[00:08:28]But the police didn't take their [music] children's statements until a month later.

[00:08:32]In the meantime, other interviews took [music] place with psychologists, doctors. The children had to recount what they'd been through over and over again.

[00:08:43]When you add it all up, our children have had to tell their stories no fewer than five times to five different professional bodies.

[00:08:52]Their trauma is being revisited and triggered again and again.

[00:09:01]A grueling process that's taken its toll.

[00:09:04]Even so, under French law, their testimony alone is not enough.

[00:09:08]Kathleen Tayeb is a lawyer representing victims' families. She often has to explain this particularity.

[00:09:16]A statement alone cannot constitute valid evidence.

[00:09:20]It's supposed to be corroborated by other objective material pieces of evidence that will support the victim's account.

[00:09:29]When we're talking about very young children, age between 0 and 5, the acts they describe, which are very specific acts of a sexual nature, are often explained using vivid imagery and childlike language. These are very often things they couldn't possibly have known about or invented. And that's why their accounts deserve particular attention.

[00:09:51]To understand how such statements could have been made in such a consistent manner, and to investigate thoroughly taking the children's accounts very seriously.

[00:10:05]Yet in France, children's accounts are still widely cast in doubt.

[00:10:16]Unfortunately, in our country, there's still a widespread belief that children lie.

[00:10:22]They only really begin to be taken seriously around age 14 or 15.

[00:10:30]But those beliefs are contradicted by scientific data.

[00:10:34]And studies show that children lie in less than 1% of cases.

[00:10:39]So when a child reports abuse, they're probably telling the truth.

[00:10:47]Since the Paris cases came to light, children's voices are beginning to be heard. The city's new mayor wants to make the protection of children in after-school care an absolute priority.

[00:10:59]That includes simplifying the reporting of abuse, creating a special helpline, improve training schemes for youth workers. It's a 20 million euro action plan.

[00:11:12]Offering better protection also means encouraging children to protect themselves.

[00:11:28]Children are taught about consent through puppet shows like this one filmed last year.

[00:11:33]It's a crucial notion for young people according to the association running the workshop.

[00:11:39]This whole situation shows just how important it is to raise awareness among children.

[00:11:45]We create a space for discussion after the show where we talk with the children about respecting personal boundaries, about the fact that our bodies belong to us, but we are the ones who decide what happens to them.

[00:12:00]Making sure children know their rights, giving them a voice, and hopefully empowering them to help put an end to these kinds of abuse.