A “model that works”: Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday July 21 that Social Security will finance in 2027 the opening of seven new care centers dedicated to children abused by their families and entrusted to child welfare, based on the model of Asterya, a pioneer in Paris.
The first structure of its kind in France, the Asterya center, attached to the Necker hospital (APHP) and installed in a school in the 12th arrondissement (east), offers assessments and long-term multidisciplinary care (child psychiatrists, psychologists, speech therapists, psychomotor therapists, etc.), to abused children, victims of sexual, physical and psychological violence.
The Social Security budget will include a budget of 38 million euros to “secure” the opening of seven centers supported by the Im’pactes association, the President of the Republic told the teams at the Asterya center, which he was visiting with the Minister of Health Stéphanie Rist, the High Commissioner for Children Sarah El Haïry and the Mayor of Paris Emmanuel Grégoire.
This budget will make it possible to “take care of investment expenses”, the daily operation being financed by Health Insurance for day hospital care, which includes somatic and psychological care, specified the Élysée. Seven centers will open notably in Bordeaux (where construction has already started), Lille, Strasbourg and Reunion.
“Cure the symptoms”
In the absence of care, these children “risk losing 20 years of life expectancy. They present very severe complex pediatric trauma and somatic diseases (…): diabetes, skin diseases, respiratory diseases and then in adulthood, cardiovascular diseases, much greater risks of stroke,” Céline Gréco, president of Im’pactes at the origin of the project and doctor at Necker hospital, explained to the press.
The association “provides everything that is not covered by Social Security, animal mediation, sports coaching, adapted physical activity, art therapy, psychologists for young adults,” she said.
Since opening in mid-November, Asterya has already welcomed around 800 children within its pastel walls, mainly from Paris and Île-de-France. Almost half are under 10 years old. Some, on an “intensive course” (serious neurodevelopmental disorders, severe psycho-trauma, etc.) come every week and could “absolutely not be taken care of in the city”, according to Céline Gréco. Intensive follow-up for 24 to 36 months can help “cure the symptoms”.
“The model works” and this Social Security budget will make it possible to replicate it, rejoiced Emmanuel Macron, praising the “work” of the teams.
