Paper's abstract

Nadège Séverac, In France, There is no Child Abuse Anymore
The purpose of this contribution is to make the story of Marina – an 8 years old girl, who died after suffering years of severe abuse and neglect from her parents - serve as an analyzer for the French child protection system. If restrictions are usually made about the relevance of reasoning from a unique and highly emotional story, this is not the case here. By commissioning an analysis of the reasons why Marina, although seen by all, was not identified as abused and neglected, the French ombudsman allows for a generalization, lessons learned from this case enlightening dysfunctions of the childhood protection system as reformed in March 2007. The purpose is here to rise to a second level of generalization, showing, based on study and research reports, that these dysfunctions tend to be identified by all professionals (social workers and judges) as putting a brake on the effective protection of all children suffering abuse and neglect.

Key Words : child abuse
t. 57, 2014 : p. 123-145

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