00:03My son told me that he had a secret with one of the staff, but he would never tell
00:07me what it was.
00:09This man rubbed himself against little girls every morning before he started work.
00:14How could nobody else in the classroom react?
00:17Paris is being rocked by a major abuse scandal.
00:20Children at more than 100 public preschools, primary schools and daycare centres across
00:25the city are believed to have been victims of violence and sexual abuse by child care
00:29staff who supervise children outside regular class hours.
00:33The allegations span every district of Paris.
00:36How could this happen?
00:39I remember picking up my son from school and he said to me, Mom, my bottom hurts.
00:45Eric, not his real name, was four years old.
00:48At the time, he was attending a public preschool for children aged three to six.
00:53His mother says that over time, his behaviour began to change.
00:57He became withdrawn, started wetting himself and no longer wanted to sleep.
01:02She eventually sought help from a psychologist.
01:04During a session with the psychologist, my son used dolls to show what had happened to him.
01:15And he had been raped.
01:20Elisabeth and Anna want families like Eric's to be heard.
01:23In 2021, they founded SOS PĂ©riscolaire, or SOS School Child Care.
01:29The group collects testimonies and campaigns for authorities to take parents' and children's
01:33accounts more seriously.
01:37Preschoolers who have been victims of sexual abuse don't invent things when they describe
01:41abuse, whether in words or through drawings.
01:44If they give details, it means they've either witnessed abuse, experienced it themselves,
01:49or seen it in a video.
01:51And that can happen too.
01:55The group's campaigning helped bring wider attention to the allegations.
01:59Last year, more than 30 childcare workers were suspended.
02:03This year, Paris has suspended more than 130 staff members, including more than 50 over
02:09suspected sexual violence.
02:12Roxane Dujour believes her young daughter may have also been abused.
02:16Paris City Hall published a small booklet describing the non-verbal warning signs.
02:21Our daughter showed every single one of them.
02:25Roxane's daughter has a speech impairment.
02:27She communicates using sign language and a few spoken words.
02:31At school, she relies on a dedicated caregiver.
02:35She said, tickle, tickle.
02:37And I asked, oh, did he tickle your back?
02:40Your arm?
02:40She replied, it hurt.
02:44I asked, did he hurt you?
02:46And she said, bottom.
02:48So I asked again, wait, what are you telling me?
02:50Did he hurt your bottom?
02:52Then she completely broke down, throwing bath toys across the room, screaming and screaming.
02:58I don't know exactly what happened.
02:59She can't explain it clearly.
03:03But she did tell me something important and I'm afraid terrible things may have happened.
03:10In France, young children are often supervised by childcare workers outside normal class hours.
03:17These workers are hired by city authorities, not by schools or the national education ministry.
03:23Many are on short-term or part-time contracts.
03:27Some have little formal training.
03:30Paris alone employs around 15,000 of them.
03:33Alleged abuse was also reported in Saint-Dominique preschool near the Eiffel Tower.
03:38This year, police took 16 childcare workers into custody and placed two people into pretrial detention.
03:46Parents say they learned about the police operation through the media.
03:49Anna from SOS PĂ©riscolaire helped organize this protest near the school in one of the city's
03:56most affluent districts, where demonstrations like this are rare.
04:03According to the children's testimonies, staff members abused the children together.
04:08Staff coordinated with each other.
04:11During lunchtime, several of them would take children into rooms to abuse them there.
04:18My son wasn't doing well.
04:20He was clearly distressed.
04:22I hope it was only because people shouted at him.
04:25That's bad enough, but less serious than physical abuse.
04:29My daughter was probably not affected, but like so many parents, we're left with this uncertainty,
04:35not knowing whether our children were abused or not.
04:39French lawmakers are now moving to tighten checks on adults who work with children.
04:43The proposed measures include stronger background screening and regular checks at least every three years.
04:50But many childcare workers say the scandal has put all of them under suspicion.
04:55Their unions say the system itself is part of the problem.
04:58Low pay and unstable contracts.
05:03You need to attract people into this profession by offering proper contracts and decent salaries.
05:09Right now we don't do that, so we end up with unreliable people,
05:13and inevitably, some who may pose a risk.
05:16Offering someone just two hours of work a day around lunchtime isn't going to work.
05:23Paris has an action plan worth around 20 million euros.
05:27It includes better reporting procedures, more training, and stronger checks.
05:31Despite repeated requests, the city official responsible for education declined our request for an interview.
05:39Some in the justice system say the slow handling of these cases points to a deeper failure.
05:46It's true that we tend to look away from horrific things.
05:49It's a form of collective blindness.
05:52The judiciary also has to take a hard look at itself and, with honesty and humility,
05:57acknowledge that it may not always have lived up to its responsibilities in addressing these issues.
06:04For many affected families, the damage is already done.
06:08They say the investigation is too slow and the justice system is failing them.
06:15The police, city authorities, the government, the justice system,
06:19they all allowed children to be abused rather than make changes and accept that they, too,
06:25bear some responsibility for these failures.
06:27And also, in part, responsible for these dysfonctions.
06:30Conversations.
06:31D
06:31From the
06:33staff.
06:34Those
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