[Child social welfare service]

In France, the Child Welfare Service is the public agency responsible for the protection of children and adolescents. Since the enaction of the decentralization laws, this Service is under the authority of the president of the Regional Council of each district. The Child Welfare Service provides material and/or educational support to families and youngsters in need of help. It also ensures the placement of children, adolescents and youngsters of age in institutions or foster homes according to the therapeutic indication. The CWS's role is to prevent the disruption of families, promote the reconstruction of broken families, and ensure the adoption of neglected children. As a result of the intense efforts provided over a great number of years, the numbers of families and children eligible for CWS intervention are falling. In Paris, in 1987, 5,000 youngsters separated from their families benefited from CWS actions, and approximately one hundred neglected children were adopted into new families. In this article, we describe the current work of the CWS by means of a few figures and comments.