Each year in France, it is estimated that a child dies every five days as a result of family violence and some 52,000 minors are subjected to violence, mistreatment or abandonment.

And “because the calls from minors to 119 are always more and more numerous and that the digital one takes more and more place in their life”, the 119 wanted to offer this new exchange channel, explains the Public Interest Group (GIP) Enfance en Danger.

A specialized team

The chat will be accessible on the website www.allo119.gouv.fr from a computer, smartphone or tablet and will be open to minors and adults under the age of 21. The service will be available in the afternoon on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Wednesdays from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.

A team of listeners from 119, child protection professionals, will respond to requests in writing. Exchanges are made “as part of the service’s legal missions: prevention mission (listening, advice, guidance, etc.) and the mission of transmitting information to the units for collecting worrying information (Crip) in the departments. Confidentiality is guaranteed and the young person at all times can ‘leave the conversation urgently’“, explains Childhood in Danger.

Increase in calls from minors

The 119, free and confidential number was launched in 1990 to help prevent the ill-treatment of minors. Faced with the increase in the number of calls from minors (15% in 2017, 18% in 2019 and 20% of callers in 2020), it became urgent to offer other means of communication.

In support of the 24-hour telephone line, other methods of questioning are already available on the page “Need help?” site, including a platform for deaf and hard of hearing people.