Country Profile: France
Population: 65 Million
Children under the age of 18: 14 Million
Country situation:
Statistics from 2021 state that 177,000 children and young people are in alternative care due to being unable to live with their parents or wider family. This care consists of foster families, boarding schools, teenager centres and in some cases, hotels. It is estimated, that between 7,500 and 10,500 young people are in such hotel institutions. There is a current (December 2021) government initiative to end the use of hotels for such placements, due to inherent risk to unsupervisedvulnerable young people in that environment.
A number of people of faith are engaged with foster care in France, but are restricted in expressing this in the sight and hearing of children they foster. This limits their ability to attend church services as a family and talk openly about their faith at home.
Towards a National Movement in France:
World Without Orphans Europe has connections with French foster carers, but there is as yet no known collaborative movement of Christians involved in the care of children in alternative care or preventative work. WWO Europe will welcome contact with anyone interested in making connections or sharing information about their own work or that of an organisation they know or work with.
Contact: europe@worldwithoutorphans.org