Parliament definitively adopted on Tuesday June 2 a bill to better protect and support parents of children suffering from cancer, a serious illness or a disability, after a final unanimous vote by deputies. This transpartisan text, carried by Vincent Thiébaut (Horizons), aims to simplify administrative procedures for these parents and to make them more secure, financially and professionally.
In France, around 2,500 children are diagnosed with cancer each year, millions of young people suffer from a chronic illness and nearly 560,000 have a disability. For these families, “time stops abruptly, priorities shift, work, resources, psychological balance, the organization of the home, everything can falter,” recalled Minister of Health Stéphanie Rist. “Families are not waiting for speeches. They expect simplicity, speed, protection and consideration,” she added, supporting the text.
From the podium, Vincent Thiébaut cited several testimonies from mothers of sick children. Including that of Jeanne, mother of Justine, two years old, suffering from a serious heart condition: “Our daughter has already spent almost half her life in hospital. Faced with these financial costs, I had to limit my visits to her to only once or twice a month in order to reduce accommodation costs.”
Three texts adopted since 2019
Despite three texts adopted since 2019 to provide solutions to the problems of these families, “significant difficulties remain”, hence this law worked in particular with the associative world. The text extends the leave following the announcement of the onset of a disability or illness from five to ten days, and reduces the time limits for granting rights to departmental centers for disabled people. On a financial level, it reduces the out-of-pocket costs linked to certain health costs, such as psychological monitoring.
It allows monthly mortgage payments to be suspended for parents forced to stop their activity. Deputies regretted the removal of certain measures introduced at first reading in the Assembly, deleted by senators, such as that preventing a lessor from being able to recover their accommodation when a seriously ill child lives there.
The deputies preferred to adopt the same version as the Senate so that the text comes into force quickly. It also allows the early release of rights accrued under a retirement savings plan, as well as allowing parents of children hospitalized far from their home to stay near the hospital thanks to a system supported by Social Security. On a professional level, it also strengthens protection against dismissals within ten weeks following a return from parental leave.
