French Senate finds after-school care failures across 73 departments

A unanimous Senate report says weak recruitment, training and oversight have left children exposed to abuse in a system used by nine in 10 families.

A French Senate report has concluded that the country is not doing enough to protect children in after-school care, exposing what lawmakers describe as deep and widespread failings in a system now used by almost every family. The report, adopted unanimously, says weaknesses found in Paris are not isolated: similar problems have been reported in 73 departments across the country, raising questions about oversight well beyond the capital.

According to the Senate findings, Paris remains the clearest example of the scale of the problem, with 235 criminal investigations opened into alleged psychological, physical and sexual violence. But the report argues that the crisis is rooted in national reforms that expanded the role of after-school provision after changes to school timetables in 2013. The Senate says that nine in ten children now attend some form of after-school care at least once a day, and that the number of places tripled between 2013 and 2016.

Lawmakers identified several recurring weaknesses, including poor recruitment, inadequate training and the absence of proper checks on staff background. They also pointed to what Agnès Evren, the Paris senator who presented the report, called a dangerous “dilution of responsibilities” between schools, after-school providers and the justice system when allegations arise. The Senate report also stresses that oversight remains fragmented, echoing broader concerns set out in the upper house’s wider work on child protection, which warns that responsibilities spread across too many actors can weaken services over time.

The report sets out 25 recommendations aimed at preventing abuse rather than merely responding after the fact. Among the main proposals are stronger training requirements for applicants, more regular inspections and tighter honourability checks on staff, alongside a new criminal offence for failing to report serious incidents to the prefect. Evren said the aim was to “briser la loi du silence” and create a genuine culture of transparency that would help rebuild parental trust.

The debate comes against a backdrop of mounting concern in Paris and beyond. Le Monde reported in June that the city’s mayor had suspended 132 staff members since 1 January, including 52 over suspected sexual violence, and had appointed the former juvenile court judge Antoine Garapon to lead an independent audit of after-school centres. Euronews reported separately that a 35-year-old youth worker was on trial in Paris over alleged sexual assaults on five very young children, with more than 110 institutions under scrutiny this year. Together, the cases have sharpened pressure on ministers and local authorities to make after-school care safer and more accountable.