Parent and Victim Groups Demand More Transparency About Staff in After-School Care

Paris – 04.07.2026: A coalition of parent, victim and child-rights groups has called on the French ministries of Justice and Education as well as the Paris city hall in an open letter for more transparency and stricter controls in the périscolaire. The impetus are repeated reports of allegations of violence and unclear procedures in staff selection for school after-school care. The signatories demand traceable information on qualifications, suitability checks and employment relationships, as well as clear details about which external providers are active in the facilities.

Specifically, the groups call for uniform, publicly accessible procedures: checks of professional histories should be documented without gaps and updated regularly. In addition, caregivers should not be deployed alone with small groups to ensure the two-adult rule. The initiators stress that this is not about a general presumption of guilt, but about prevention and protecting children in an area used daily by thousands of families.

The appeal follows several investigations and suspensions in recent months that have shaken the confidence of many parents. Media reports spoke of dozens of provisional removals from service, partly because of suspicions of assaults, partly to clarify unsuitable hiring pathways. Local collectives had already previously pointed to shortcomings in recruitment, guidance and supervision. The Paris city hall and the responsible authorities have said in the past that they launched internal investigations, suspended staff and set up independent review commissions.

The groups consider these steps insufficient as long as parents cannot clearly see according to which standards staff are recruited, vetted and trained. They explicitly name legally sensitive points — in particular data protection for personnel files, the balancing of privacy rights and the handling of suspected cases. They demand standardized reporting chains to public prosecutors, defined deadlines for feedback to families and transparent criteria for when a provisional suspension applies and how it is reviewed.

Underlying the dispute is the question of how municipalities, independent providers and the state share responsibility in the périscolaire and how quality can be ensured across heavily burdened structures. The signatories propose introducing minimum quotas for qualified staff, regular training on child protection and de-escalation, and a central reporting format for the results of external reviews. Whether the addressed ministries or the city of Paris will present additional measures or timelines in the short term was initially unclear after the letter was published.