As France investigates abuse at schools, parents ask, How do I protect my kid?
Christian Science Monitor · C · trust 23/100
| Benoit Fatou/Sipa/AP Activists hold signs denouncing sexual violence against children during a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Justice at the Place Vendôme in Paris, June 15, 2026. The protest called for greater judicial action against sexual abuse and infanticide. Loading...
School had always been something of a sanctuary for Delphine. The French mother of two says she had “total confidence” when she dropped off her 5-year-old son at preschool.
That is, until she found out that several of his after-school instructors had been accused of abuse – both physical and sexual.
“School is supposed to be a safe place,” says Delphine, who asked to use a pseudonym because, like other parents interviewed for this article, she worries about a backlash from teaching staff at her son’s school.
After reports of a series of abuses in after-school programs in Paris, parents across France have been reassessing how they protect their children – and whom they can trust.
In May, the Paris public prosecutor’s office announced that dozens of preschools, elementary schools, and daycares are under investigation on suspicion of violence against children. Since the beginning of 2026, Paris City Hall has suspended 132 of its 14,000 after-school teachers – nearly half of those involving suspected sexual assault – compared with 46 for all of last year.
The crisis within Paris public schools is just one of several recent high-profile cases involving violence against minors in France in the past six months that have shaken the confidence of parents, including the killing of an 11-year-old girl in May.
In a country that prides itself on its affordable and accessible after-school care for working parents – a system so embedded in the work-life culture that 89% of children utilize périscolaire in some form – parents have taken to the streets in protest. This summer, Paris City Hall has seen a 13% drop in camp sign-ups.
As parents look to the start of the new school year, many are demanding action from the state and their local schools to protect the estimated 5 million children who rely on the system for after-school care or holiday breaks. The allegations have fueled a larger debate in French society over how to stop violence against minors and salvage trust in the public programs that families depend on.
“It’s good to talk about things, to make the issue of [violence against children] more visible,” says Michel Delage, a psychiatrist and family therapist based in Toulon, France. “But it needs to lead to actual change in the way things work. Parents are losing faith in the system.”
The number of reported cases of violence against children has risen steadily since 2016 – by 7% each year between 2016 and 2023 – according to the Interior Ministry . Such cases, combined with headlines like those about 11-year-old Lyhanna, who prosecutors say was sexually assaulted and killed by the father of her close friend after school, have compounded perceptions by parents that kids aren’t safe.
“Our society is in the midst of a crisis, and it has become unbearable,” says Philippe Fabry, an independent social worker in the Paris region. “It does start to feel like no one cares about the rights of children.”
Alexis Jumeau/Abaca/Sipa USA/AP Emmanuel Gregoire (left), then-candidate for Paris mayor, and French civil servant and economist Lucie Castets speak at a press conference in Paris, Feb. 26, 2026. The public has put much of the blame on the French justice system, which has been accused of slow processing times and inefficiency. Earlier in the spring, parents were calling for the ouster of the justice minister.
Parents also fault a system that makes it easy to point fingers. In France, after-school programming is run by city halls, separate from the national education system in which teachers are hired after yearslong study. After-school instructors can be hired in a matter of weeks.
At some schools, such as the one attended by Delphine’s son, teachers have been advised to distance themselves from the périscolaire staff. That approach is “very French,” says Dr. Delage. “Each French institution is divided and separated by what it does specifically,” he says. “There is no communication between one another.”
Parents say this distracts from the solution. “Everyone is saying, ‘It’s not my fault; it’s their fault,’” says Anne, the mother of a 4-year-old in the Paris suburbs. “We’re talking about the future of our children here.”
Recently, Anne watched a video that has been making the rounds on social media, showing children what is considered appropriate and inappropriate touch. She never sent her daughter to many friends’ houses before, and she’s even less inclined to do so now. Sleepovers are, for now, out of the question.
“I don’t want my daughter to be afraid of life,” says Anne. But after Lyhanna’s killing, “I definitely think twice before sending her to someone’s home.”
Parents are also reconsidering deeply cherished personal privacy laws. Today, cameras can only be used in certain areas of school grounds, if they are used at all, and remain a rarity inside elementary schools. However, legal experts say that if, for example, a school or public building deems that installing surveillance cameras is in the community’s best interest, it would not need to ask for the public’s approval first.
“We’re seeing a multiplication of demands for cameras, in cars, at private homes, and at city halls,” says Gaël Mahé, a lawyer at the digital and intellectual-property law firm Haas Avocats in Paris. “People are looking for protection.”
“Some people [also] want to be able to say, ‘I didn’t do anything. Look at the video.’”
Many parents say that police officers need more training on how to handle complaints involving violence against minors. “There is still a stereotype that the [parent] who raises the alarm is annoying,” says Nicoleta Pitar, mother of an elementary schooler.
Still, Ms. Pitar says she doesn’t want to…
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