Living on the street or in unhygienic and cramped hotel rooms has worrying consequences for children’s mental health, warnUnicef France and the Paris Samu Social in a report released Monday October 10.
Anxiety, depression, mood disorders: the well-being of deprived children “Protective cocoon” of a real home can be affected in the short and medium term, but also in their future adult life, the two organizations say.
Read also: At least 50,000 poorly housed or homeless children in France, alert associations
Among these minors, “a small minority is resilient that will come out, but the majority will pay for it”said AFP child psychiatrist Bruno Falissard, who provided his expertise to the authors of the report, published on World Mental Health Day.
The younger the child, the more his living conditions can be harmful to his mental health, according to this specialist, especially if the child is deprived. “Be warm, have something to eat when hungry, be comforted when things are not going well”.
“Environmental safety has enormous therapeutic powersummarizes the doctor, for whom Sheltering a homeless person works better than prescribing drugs “.
Read also: “A quarter of the homeless are former adopted children,” warns the Abbé-Pierre Foundation
42,000 children in emergency shelters and on the streets
According to a count organized in August by Unicef France and the Federation of solidarity actors, “more than 42,000 children lived in emergency shelters, makeshift shelters or on the street”detects the report.
Only a minority of these minors sleep around, “But be careful! Life in a hotel or hostel also has enormous consequences on the mental health of children”underlines the president of Unicef France, Adeline Hazan.
Read also: “You don’t get used to it”: over 1,600 children are homeless, according to an associative collective
Hygienic conditions and overcrowding
Overcrowded, unsanitary and precarious living spaces can become “sources of anxiety” and weigh on self-esteem, sleep, diet, stress. “We should have hotels primarily for families, not for people who drink. We must be safe “testifies Adèle, 13, cited in the report.
“I eat on my bed”, complains for his part Julio, 15, who lives with his family in a 9 m2 hotel room. A small size that can lead to tension, too “domestic violence and abuse”say the authors of the report.
According to them, public authorities should “strengthen resources” a lack of mental health services “cruelly” of professionals. However, this shortcoming is even more evident for homeless children, due to a “Discontinuity in the care pathways” and the inability of resourceful families to pay the excess taxes of private professionals.
