Making better sense of children's trajectories in child protection in France

In France, the child protection system-as well as family-related policies in general-links specific interventions and schemes to the recognition of a particular situation: this is usually called the status-based approach. But in child protection, the status-based approach has severe limitations that may affect the quality of care. Piling up a number of statuses does not promote an overall vision of the child, and the evolving, dynamic nature of a child's development and history tends to disappear in a framework that relies heavily on ascertained, stable situations. Practitioners have started to develop tools to work with the children and families over time and in a more holistic manner, but these developments need to be mainstreamed and to be mirrored in administrative practices and at policy level to really take into account life trajectories. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.