She abandons the child she has just adopted in Congo: a condemned Frenchwoman
JUSTICE - It is an unusual case that the Draguignan court ruled this week. A woman in her forties was appearing for having abandoned the child she had just adopted in Congo.
"He was unmanageable." These are the words used by this Frenchwoman, originally from Fréjus, to explain her gesture, she who decided to abandon the child she had just adopted in Congo. Explanations which did not convince the Court of Draguignan (Var), which has just sentenced her to 10 months suspended imprisonment for "neglect of a minor" . The court also pronounced a ban on exercising a professional activity in contact with minors, thus depriving the accused of her current job of social worker in an educational action service in an open environment.
The case dates back to 2018. That year, the accused, in her forties, saw her application for adoption lead to an orphanage in Brazzaville. But after spending a week there with her child, the Frenchwoman changes her mind, believing that the little boy, aged eight, is out of control. She then decides to return to France without him. Except that in the meantime, the adoption process has indeed been ratified and the little boy is therefore now French.
A complaint is then filed. And two years later, facing the Draguignan court, the accused explained that for her the charges of "neglect" of a child did not hold, insofar as she left the child in the orphanage where he still growing up, and where his health and safety were assured.
Did you see, the white mother didn't want you "
- Me Muriel Gestas, lawyer for the child
Still, the situation of this child is complex today. Still placed in this orphanage in Congo, he cannot be adopted, since it has already been the case. Enough to push the lawyer who represents his interests to address himself today to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to ask that this child, now a ward of the Nation, can be welcomed in France by Social Assistance to the childhood. "It would be better, rather than placement in a foster home, to seize a family affairs judge so that he can pronounce the deprivation of parental authority and that he is then placed in a foster family" , considers Me Muriel. Gestas. According to her,
"This child, who is no longer adoptable, is not an ordinary case. He experienced a specific trauma after a first abandonment at the age of eight months and a new one when his mother [the French condemned , editor's note ] l 'gave up at the orphanage in front of all the other kids who say to him today' saw you, the white mother she didn't want you ' , argued Me Gestas.
In 2019, 421 children were adopted abroad by French nationals or foreigners residing in France. Congo is the fifth country of origin, behind Vietnam, Colombia, Thailand and Haiti.