Rationed meals, timed care… Private crèches pinned by a book | EUROtoday

“The Price of the Cradle” describes a “dehumanized” system primarily based on the race for efficiency and filling, typically to the detriment of the well-being of youngsters.

By VD with AFP

PRationed meal orders, timed care, the observe of “overbooking”: a book to be revealed on September 8 pinpoints the practices of sure non-public crèches, in comparison with child “factories”. Five months after the publication of a report by the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (Igas) on the prevention of abuse in nurseries, The worth of the cradle (Threshold) describes a “dehumanized” system primarily based on the race for efficiency and filling, typically to the detriment of the well-being of youngsters.

Like this nursery within the Bouches-du-Rhône the place some kids come out “hungry in their stomachs”, elevating questions from mother and father who will finally be taught from administration that “between three and five meals are missing. two days a week” for a number of months. “A human error”, in keeping with the corporate. Or even this institution close to Lyon which, like some airways, practices “overbooking”: it accommodated extra kids than what’s legally supplied for. A bunch supervisor will fear internally about a “security” danger.

A “timing” of care

“We are in a system which, by injunctions to profitability, [transforme les enfants] in figures where we were initially on a service to the person”, declares to AFP the independent journalist Mathieu Périsse, co-author of the book, which is based on nearly 200 interviews and testimonies of executives, employees and parents. . “These companies, some of which are backed by investment funds, are implementing measures to optimize the management of their crèches”, he adds, citing supplies, the “timing” of care or even a just-in-time personnel management.

READ ALSOAn alert report on the quality of reception and the risks of mistreatment in nurseries

An “optimization”, in his phrases, which might recall the Orpea scandal – the monetary embezzlement and ill-treatment inflicted on the residents and staff of the retirement house large, revealed in January 2022 within the book The Gravediggers by Victor Castanet. After the Igas investigation, a giant variety of firms on this sector mentioned “their worry” of being singled out, as was the case for a large part of nursing homes after the Orpea scandal, tells AFP Daphné Gastaldi, the other author of the book. “Everything is just not comparable (with nursing houses), specifically as a result of the kids will not be on full board and they aren’t remoted individuals,” she notes.

“Race for Profitability”

Mathieu Périsse notes that we discover the identical “race for profitability” and “the same dehumanizing side, with this impression for the field staff that everything is managed in the same way, without taking into account the specificities of each establishment”. Twenty years after the opening of the sector to the non-public sector, non-public crèches provide 80,000 locations, i.e. some 20% of accessible locations and obtain a turnover of between 1.1 and 1.4 billion euros, in keeping with a report. by Matignon revealed in 2021.

Four main teams primarily occupy the market: Grandir (Les Petits Chaperons Rouges), Babilou, La Maison Bleue, People & Baby. The latter discovered himself within the highlight in June 2022 after the demise of an 11-month-old child in Lyon. Following this tragedy, the manager commissioned Igas to research the standard of reception and the prevention of abuse in crèches, each non-public and public. In their conclusions revealed in April 2023, the investigators consider that the “lessons learned in 2022” in the course of the Orpea scandal can “be very broadly applied to the crèche sector”.