Overview
- About 380,000 children under assistance éducative would be covered, including those placed in foster care, in foyers or monitored at home by social services.
- The measure makes counsel free for the child, funded through legal aid, with lawyers paid €576 per hearing.
- The vote followed public outrage over a video of an 8-year-old shaved in a Paris foyer, a case under judicial investigation and reviewed by the Défenseure des droits.
- Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin backed the initiative, while Health Minister Stéphanie Rist warned of staffing limits and potential court saturation; an LR bid for a two-year pilot was rejected.
- Supporters cited positive local trials in Nanterre, Bourges and Avignon, and the government signaled a broader child-protection bill planned for early 2026.