Child abuse, a health issue: “We must be able to treat it as a chronic, fully pediatric disease”

The consultation lasted more than an hour and a half. Between the moment Zélie (not her real name), 13, pushed open the door of a small office at the Robert-Debré hospital (AP-HP), in the ^19th arrondissement of Paris, and the moment she came out, her frail body felt like it was relieved of a weight.

Tania Ikowsky, pediatrician, Monika Menant, pediatric nurse, and Emma Pouizieux, sixth-year medical student, the trio who took charge of her this Wednesday at the end of November 2024, made the observation: "Did you see how less frozen she is?" asks one. "And her smile, less tense?" points out another.

Her voice, which was only a whisper, became audible. When the pediatrician, head of the pediatric reception unit for children in danger (UAPED), explained to her that she can “come back whenever she wants” , “because her health matters” , the young girl says “thank you, yes, I think I will come back” . A second appointment has already been made, in day hospitalization, for vaccinations, a consultation with a neurologist, biological tests…

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