In the Morvan region, a network suspected of being clandestine for the reception of Dutch children has been dismantled.
An association, suspected of operating illegally, was placing troubled Dutch teenagers with families and farmers in the region. A series of raids were carried out on Tuesday.
In the heart of the Morvan Regional Natural Park, police and state services conducted a series of raids on December 9 in the village of Cussy-en-Morvan (Saône-et-Loire). ABACAPRESS.COM/Eliot Blonde
A flurry of cars, slamming doors, and unusual comings and goings: the usually tranquil village of Cussy-en-Morvan (Saône-et-Loire) awoke to unusual activity on Tuesday, December 9. Gendarmes and state services conducted a series of searches here, amidst the hills and fir trees, in the heart of the natural park, Le Parisien learned on Saturday, confirming information from France 3 Bourgogne-Franche-Comté .
The operation, carried out with the Child Welfare Services and the Labour Inspectorate, aimed to dismantle a possible clandestine network for hosting Dutch children, on respite stays in France, under the leadership of the association Force en soi.
A teenager who tried to flee was apprehended by the police.
As we revealed in an article published on November 22 , this discreetly located structure in the heart of the Morvan welcomes Dutch teenagers facing social or legal difficulties at home for "breakaway stays" in French families, often farmers living in the countryside.
According to our information, the association had remained under the radar of the mayors concerned, child protection services and state services until March, when a teenager, in distress, reported having been the victim of mistreatment and forced labor at one of these "sponsors" of the association.
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The boy was apprehended by police, barefoot in a stolen car, as he attempted to flee. An investigation was initially opened by the Nevers public prosecutor's office, then transferred to the Chalon-sur-Saône public prosecutor for a broader investigation into the organization, located in the Saône-et-Loire department.
The association, which denies any wrongdoing, claims to have always "complied with all the rules governing its activity" and denies any mistreatment, it indicated on November 27, through its lawyer, in a letter addressed to our newspaper.
Another case dating back to 2019
“The young people are invited to participate in family and farm life if they wish, but this is in no way a working relationship,” she affirms. “No parent or young person has had cause to complain about the treatment they received from the host families.”
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However, according to information gathered during the initial interviews with the police, the boy arrested at the wheel of the stolen car, in a state "that is very concerning," according to a judicial source, complained of being forced to work, of lacking food, and "of staying in the car with the dog while the landlord went to the restaurant," another interviewee reported.
In Cussy-en-Morvan, as in the neighboring town of Anost, elected officials knew nothing about the association or its activities, nor did child protection services. The region has long been home to a community of Dutch nationals, tourists or retirees, who own chalets and second homes overlooking the lakes and hills covered with fir forests.
In 2019, in Cussy-en-Morvan, the gendarmerie had already intervened in another case involving a Dutch couple suspected of employing children in their chalet. These children were staying there undeclared and under the radar of the authorities. It was the escape of a young boy, who fled on a bicycle, that prompted the police intervention. The wooden house under construction, where the gendarmes found about fifteen young people, was subject to an administrative closure order.