The Council of Europe Staff Association is honoured to announce and congratulate the recent victory of the “Comité de Vigilance des Enfants Placés” and its campaigners in the “Assemblée Nationale”. Indeed, the public sitting on Wednesday 1 July led to the adoption, following a unanimous vote, of the bill aimed at ensuring every child’s right to legal representation in the context of educational and child protection measures.
This success is the result of a long campaign led by the Comité de Vigilance des Enfants Placés, which was formed as part of the “Commission d’enquête parlementaire sur les manquements de la politique de protection de l’enfance”. The Staff Association therefore welcomes the positive impact of the two outstanding conferences on child protection held at the Palais de l’Europe in September 2025 and May 2026. It would also like to highlight the vital contribution made by Keltoum Belaid to the success of this project; she is not only the chair of the Amicale’s Francophonie section but also a member of the “Comité de Vigilance des Enfants Placés”.
These conferences provided an opportunity to bring together professionals, campaigners, former children in care and the general public to address a shared concern: providing better protection for children in care. In particular, they enabled participants to collectively explore key issues relating to the conditions and policies of child protection in France, drawing on the lived experiences and expertise of those directly affected, as well as the work carried out by the Comité de Vigilance des Enfants Placés.
To find out more about the conferences:
- September 2025 – First conference: ‘Those most directly affected in the design of public policy’ (Page 4 of the September/October 2025 newsletter)
- May 2026 – Second conference: ‘Child protection with varying standards’
Thus, as soon as the law comes into force in January 2027, this major step forward will provide undeniable and essential support to every child in the care of child protection services, enabling them to have a lawyer to defend their rights until they leave the child protection system.