Educational assistance: each child must be accompanied in the proceedings by a lawyer

An educational assistance procedure is used to protect children:

• whose health, safety or morals are in danger;
• or whose conditions of education or development are seriously compromised.

It is a judicial measure for the protection of children. Minors involved in such proceedings were brought before a juvenile judge, who was responsible for taking a decision in the strict interests of the children.

The juvenile court judge may, inter alia, order the establishment ofopen educational assistance (this measure makes it possible to intervene with the child and his parents without separating them, by means of reinforced educational follow-up at home), or the placement of the child outside the family environment.

In the report on the draft law to ensure the right of every child to be assisted by a lawyer as part of an educational assistance and child protection measureit is emphasized that "in most cases, minors are not assisted by a lawyer, unlike in criminal cases".

Currently, in the context of educational assistance procedures, only children deemed capable of forming their own views are entitled to a lawyer. When the interests of such minors so required, a juvenile judge could request the appointment of a lawyer. And for other minors, considered as not being capable of discernment, the children's judge may request the appointment of an administrator ad hoc ; the latter is then responsible for legally accompanying the child to protect his interests.

What changes as of January 6, 2027

From 6 January 2027, as part of the educational assistance procedures, each child will be assisted by a lawyer. This assistance by a lawyer will thus become mandatory, regardless of the children's capacity for discernment. The children's judge must ask the president of the bar (the representative of lawyers registered with the same bar) for the appointment of a lawyer as soon as the educational assistance procedure is opened; and he must inform the child and his legal representatives, or the service or person to whom the minor has been entrusted, of this, depending on the situation. The child will then have the option of freely choosing a lawyer other than the one appointed for him.

Assistance of the child by a lawyer will be fully covered by the State, under legal aid (whether the child is assisted by a lawyer appointed at the request of the judge, or by another person chosen by the child).

In the report on the draft lawit is stressed that "lawyers will be able to speak for minors, help them to express themselves or report their words, prepare hearings, explain the decisions of the juvenile judges".

The document states that this measure will enter into force in January 2027, and not immediately, « so that courts and bar associations can prepare for this new obligation and that training mechanisms for lawyers in children's rights can be strengthened ».