Faced with the scale of violence suffered by children in France, the association L’Enfant Bleu – Enfance Maltraitée is launching the Respectometer, a unique educational tool to help young people identify, understand and report situations of violence.
A public health emergency that is still too little known
In France, the figures remain chilling: a child is the victim of sexual violence every three minutes and a child dies every five days as a result of domestic violence. Despite awareness campaigns, many children still struggle to put into words what they are experiencing, often out of fear, guilt or lack of clear guidelines.
It is in this context that L’Enfant Bleu – Maltraited Childhood, with more than 36 years of field experience, designed the Respectometer. Designed as a prevention tool accessible to all, it aims to give children simple keys to recognizing unacceptable situations and understanding when and how to ask for help.
The Respectometer, a tool for recognizing and naming violence
Designed by a team of lawyers and clinical psychologists, the Respectometer presents different everyday situations, described with vocabulary adapted to children. The objective: to allow them to identify themselves, to measure the seriousness of what they are experiencing and to know when a situation clearly constitutes violence.
When the threshold “It’s very serious” is reached, the tool explicitly encourages the child to ask for help, reminding people of the existence of essential resources such as 119, the national number for children in danger, or the L’Enfant Bleu teams. He also suggests turning to trusted adults, in order to break the isolation often felt by victims.
© The Blue Child – Abused Childhood
Respectometer: helping children recognize situations of violence
© The Blue Child – Abused Childhood
Violence against children:
L’Enfant Bleu launches the Respectometer
A complementary device widely distributed among children
The Respectometer is part of a global prevention strategy developed by L’Enfant Bleu, alongside already known initiatives such as the Alerter Jersey or the integration of a character from the association in the video game Fortnite.
Available for free download from the association’s website, the tool also benefits from a wide distribution thanks to a partnership with Bayard Jeunesse. It is therefore broadcast in several children’s titles, reaching nearly 300,000 children aged 5 to 13.
Promote speech and support adults in identification
Beyond children, the Respectometer is also aimed at parents, teachers and childhood professionals. By proposing concrete criteria to identify worrying situations, it facilitates dialogue and helps to resolve the doubts that too often slow down reporting.
“Providing guidelines to children, but also to the adults around them, allows them to identify the unacceptable and create the conditions for possible and protected speech.“, underlines Laura Morin-Baudet, general director of L’Enfant Bleu. A strong conviction: the fight against violence against children begins from a very young age, with education, awareness-raising and the provision of concrete tools.