Pediatric Reception Unit for Children in Danger

In conjunction with the administrative and judicial child protection services of Calvados, the UAPED (Unit for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Delinquency) supports hospital teams and all healthcare professionals in the region in addressing questions about the situation of minors who may be at risk. The UAPED's presence within the pediatric department allows for the development of new expertise in forensic pediatrics, complementing the existing pediatric, medical, surgical, and child psychiatric specialties .

The presence of the UAPED (Unit for the Support of Children and Adolescents in Danger) allows for the pooling of certain expertise already developed on this subject within the Caen University Hospital (forensic medicine, constitutional bone disease, adolescent medicine, child psychiatry, intervention by the hospital legal department, social work, etc.). This structure enables the creation of robust medical files that can be used later, particularly in the context of legal proceedings, in the interest of the health of children and adolescents at risk and the pursuit of truth.

The UAPED allows an integrated, child-centered approach by simultaneously addressing, in a constant caregiving context: protection, care and medico-legal constraints.

In practice, in complementarity with the actors already involved in the territory, the UAPED can respond to the requests of all the care services of the CHU of Caen welcoming minors, of any hospital or extra-hospital health professional, of institutions, schools, families (…) who have questions about a situation of minors in danger.

This offer is graduated: it can range from simple telephone advice, to proofreading a document, a clinical opinion, a consultation or the arrangement of hospitalization in a pediatric unit.

With the practitioners of the units requesting the UAPED, the care pathways for children and adolescents in danger are built in consultation within the establishment.

The resources allocated to the UAPED at the Caen University Hospital were dedicated to the identification and care pathway of child victims.

The upcoming challenge is to bring together the modalities and stakeholders of the UAPED in a single location for children and adolescents in danger, and to build fluid operational links between the actors involved in health and the judicial response in the same place in order to implement a protected approach in a dedicated pediatric location.