“Our association aims to develop practices in terms of parenthood After separationby placing the interests of the child at the heart of our concerns.”
This Saturday, November 23, a co-parenting tree was planted on the lawn located in front of the school.Ormoy-Villersa village located between Crépy-en-Valois And Nanteuil-le-Haudouin. The initiative comes from Stéphane Garrouste, vice-treasurer of Racines d’enfants, an association which fights for respect for co-parenting and the rights of the child after parental separation.
An association resulting from “The March for Parental Equality”
“I am not here to talk about my personal situation,” immediately clarified Stéphane Garrouste who, in fact, lives in Ormoy-Villers. But if I joined this association it is because I am directly affected, to the point of wanting to change the future of our children.
The association, created in January 2023, comes from the collective “March for parental equality” known for having covered 1,200 km on foot in the cold in 2021 and 2022 to raise awareness among public opinion, the media and politicians about shared parental responsibility.
“We offer concrete solutions to promote alternate residence balanced and equitable sharing of parental responsibilities, continues Stéphane Garrouste. We defend three major subjects, starting with shared residence, a mode of care which allows the children of separated parents to spend an equivalent amount of time with each, remains an exception in France. While 12% of children benefit from it, this figure is well below the European average, showing that our country is significantly behind in terms of parental equality.”
Failure to represent a child is an offense
The second subject of concern for Racines d’enfants is the non-representation of child. “Each year, 32,400 complaints are filed for this offense,” learns the vice-treasurer of the association. Only 1,300 of them lead to criminal prosecution, or only 4%. This lack of condemnation encourages perpetrators to continue their behavior, to the detriment of the child’s right to maintain a connection with both parents. During this time the child suffers from parental and family uprooting but above all from moral harassment as well as abuse of weakness with complete impunity.
The association also campaigns againstvoluntary geographical distancing. “This is a frequent practice after a separation, to the point of endangering family ties,” says Stéphane Garrouste. A parent’s desire to rebuild their life is legitimate, but it must not take precedence over the best interests of the child. The current law, although it regulates prior information, is not enough to protect children from this forced separation. It is necessary to review the legislative texts but also to raise awareness and carry out prevention on the subject, in order to better guarantee the rights of the child after parental separation.”
Raise awareness throughout society
By planting a co-parenting tree in each municipality, the association wishes to raise awareness of parental co-responsibility. “Just as a tree needs strong roots to grow, a child needs both parents to develop fully.”
This initiative aims to raise awareness throughout society, from young people to political decision-makers and the media, of the importance of a stable and balanced family environment for the well-being of the child.
This Saturday, with the agreement of the mayor of Ormoy-Villers, Pascal Etain, present at the event, an almond tree was planted. “In memory of all the parents who separate, of all these children undergoing heartbreaking parental separations, to the point of no longer seeing one of their parents, and consequently the grandparents, the aunts, uncles, cousins, and I “It’s happening,” says Stéphane Garrouste. We will say here that the child suffers from forced and unjustified parental and family exclusion. We want to remind through this plantation that the child of today is the adult of tomorrow, therefore we must ensure that he becomes a balanced adult.
A real educational tool
Beyond planting trees, the association wants to create a forest and make it a real educational tool. “A child deprived of a parent is a child with half of the roots of his family tree amputated; all the studies and meta-studies show that this cannot be good for his psychological and emotional development,” concludes Stéphane Garrouste.
To find out more, you can consult the association’s website (racines-enfants.org) or connect to its Facebook page.
