The micro-crèche Beauvoisine in Rouen will be closed for three months starting on April 15th due to reported “various dysfunctions” and accusations of mistreatment of children by several parents since December 2023. An inspection conducted on Thursday revealed that the safety of the children was not guaranteed at the facility, leading to the closure. The CAF services in Seine-Maritime will offer alternative childcare solutions to affected families starting on Monday.
The closure of the micro-crèche Beauvoisine comes after various unannounced inspections and warnings that were not addressed by the management. The facility, owned by the company Grandir (Les Petits Chaperons Rouges), claims to accommodate ten cribs on their premises. The Ministry for Children and Families had announced increased oversight of large nursery groups following a recommendation by the General Inspectorate for Social Affairs (IGAS) in the wake of a baby’s death at a private nursery in Lyon in 2022.
The Minister for Children and Families, Sarah El Haïry, aims to align the regulatory framework for micro-crèches with that of small nurseries following the recommendations of the IGAS and IGF reports. Micro-crèches, accounting for half of early childhood care facility creations between 2010 and 2020, and 13% of available places in 2020, benefit from a less stringent regulatory framework. However, this has led to concerns about the quality and supervision of personnel in these facilities according to the IGAS-IGF mission.
Two investigative books published in September 2023 shed light on the operational practices of some private nurseries, highlighting a profit-driven approach that may compromise the well-being of children. These findings come twenty years after the opening of the childcare sector to private entities, which now offer 80,000 places and generate revenues between 1.1 and 1.4 billion euros as reported by Matignon in 2021. The closure of micro-crèche Beauvoisine in Rouen underscores the ongoing discussions around the oversight and regulation of early childhood care facilities in France.
