Raising a teenager is not easy, many parents will agree. So dealing with a “problematic” teenager who is not yours can seem even more complex from the outside. Yet this is the choice made by Martine Dvoretzky. This Orléanaise has been opening its door, for nearly seventeen years, to young delinquents – although she never qualifies them as such – supported by the Judicial Protection of Youth (PJJ). She is not their educator, but their host family.
In almost two decades, the septuagenarian has welcomed 46 young people into her home: “I note in a notebook the name and the dates when they came to me. If she has forgotten the names of some, she does remember a physical detail or a personality trait. Martine welcomes these young people who have committed an offense, placed by the PJJ.
Dive into the accommodation service for juvenile offenders in Chartres
A voluntary activity
In the Center-Val de Loire region, it is the Diversified Reinforced Accommodation Educational Unit (UEHDR) of Fleury-les-Aubrais (Loiret), an open environment educational unit, which supervises foster family placements in the neighboring departments of Loiret. UEHDR educators take care of the recruitment of host families.
“As this is not a job, we cannot put a classified ad,” says Jean-Luc Devos, educator for thirty years. The first contact with the candidate families is made by telephone, then we meet them for an interview. “
The opportunity for the UEDR team to put things straight away:
“We’re in real life, we don’t tell them stories. We are dealing with delinquent and disturbed adolescents, but also “attaching” kids. In any case, families will have the last word as they are at home. “
Jean-Luc Devos (educator at the UEHDR of Fleury-les-Aubrais)
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The hardest part: keeping host families
The UEHDR has about fifteen families, in Loiret and Loir-et-Cher. They are “single women, couples with or without children, the elderly”. In Eure-et-Loir, there is not yet a voluntary family. “The most difficult is to keep the families”, concedes the educator.
After a visit to check the reception conditions at home and an interview with a psychologist, the educators select the young people according to the family: “We are looking for a meeting, love at first sight. Some families have criteria that we meet so that it goes as well as possible. Young people are asked to adapt to family life. “
The Fleury-les-Aubrais unit ensures the follow-up of young people, coming from all over France, by weekly visits to the family, as well as the security of this one, in the event of conflict: “We had calls in full night saying “Come and get him”. Some families need a break. We have others capable of taking over. ”The unit organizes support groups,“ very beneficial for families ”.
The Judicial Protection of Youth (PJJ) is looking for host families in several of the departments of the Center-Val de Loire: Eure-et-Loir, Loir-et-Cher and Loiret. No restriction, “the main thing is to have interpersonal skills, listening skills, authority and patience” specifies the Ministry of Justice, which adds that “the families are accompanied by the agents of the PJJ 24 hours a day. and 7 days a week ”. Information on www.familledaccueil-pjj.fr
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From six months to several years of reception
In exchange for compensation of € 40 per day, families take care of the young people for a minimum of six months, renewable. “I had someone until three years old” testifies Martine. The host family is a refuge for placed young people, underlines Jean-Luc Devos: “It is a neutral place where they are protected from their family or from a network. Alone, they are no longer themselves. No one knows where they are, neither the parents, nor the school, nor even the magistrate who placed them. Their address is at the UEHDR. The rest is up to us. “
The judicial protection of young people annually helps more than 400 minors in Dreux
At Martine’s, the young people placed have an apartment, separated from the house by a courtyard. “It’s both their home and my home. I do not control their room, but I ask them to participate in the life of the house. “It’s a plus for young people who need to socialize”, comments Jean-Luc Devos.
Before the Covid which put a stop to her leisure time, the retiree devoted herself to her painting and reading workshops, to which she invites the young people she accommodates: “I take them to exhibitions. It is possible to interest them in everything, you just have to want it. “If she says to herself” cool and rather young in [sa] head ”, Martine nevertheless refuses to question these hosts about their past:
” I do not want to know anything. I want to show them that they can have done something stupid without being subjected to it all their lives. Some talk about their family, especially their siblings, others don’t. “
Martine Dvoretzky (host family for the PJJ)
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Work on separation
Sometimes, the kind granny allows herself a “kick in the ass” that she considers necessary: “I remind them that the educators know everything that is happening at home. “For the educator that is Jean-Luc Devos, host families provide a complementary framework to the UEHDR:” Families sometimes have a more relevant perspective than we do. Young people generally have great respect for them. We are paid to take care of them. Being welcomed on a voluntary basis is therapeutic. “
When the placement measure ends, the farewells are sometimes heartbreaking for young people. Educators “work on separation”: “These are complicated moments, which must be preserved”, judge Jean-Luc Devos.
Martine saw it with philosophy: “We are organizing a departure aperitif for the young people. I have kept in touch with some who come back to see me. “She doesn’t blame those who cut the cord:” I plant small seeds, but I don’t know how they will grow. ”
In numbers
- 13 to 16 families welcome the young people of the UEHDR of Fleury-les-Aubrais. Mainly in Loiret and Loir-et-Cher.
- 10 educators supervise young people in foster families and in home education placements (PEAD).
- 40 € per day are paid to host families for the care of young people in care.
- 8 of the 17 young people of the UEHDR are with a host family. They are between 14 and 18 years old.
- 6 months minimum foster care. Support can be renewed.
Marion berard
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