Growing up in Europe: the story of a Guardian in France

As part of the transnational project COAST – My Coming of Age Story, we carried out research activities on the protection systems for unaccompanied foreign minors and young adults who have recently come of age in six European countries, with the aim of identifying common challenges and sharing good practices to help strengthen reception and protection pathways.  

The stories collected so far have given voice to the journeys, aspirations, and challenges of these minors on their path to independence. This time, we shift perspective, telling the story from the other side of the guardianship system: that of those who support these young people along the way. The protagonist is an administrateur ad hoc, a role within the French legal system appointed to represent a child when their interests are not adequately protected. 

In France, unaccompanied foreign minors who are officially recognized as such are taken into care by child protection services (Aide Sociale à l’Enfance – ASE), but legal representation is not automatically comprehensive. In specific situations - particularly in asylum procedures or in waiting zones - a public prosecutor appoints an administrateur ad hoc: a person or entity designated by a judge to act in place of the parents and exercise the child’s rights in their sole best interest. This figure represents the child in legal, administrative, and civil proceedings, ensuring the protection of their rights. Depending on the case, the role may be limited to procedural representation or may also include broader support. Today’s story offers a closer look at the role of an administrateur ad hoc and their experiences of protecting and representing a young person navigating their path in a new country. 

This is Éric’s story. He has been a volunteer ad hoc administrator within an association for around fifteen years. A screenwriter by profession, he took on this role out of a desire to exercise concrete responsibility and to work in direct contact with people. Accustomed to telling stories, this time he was confronted with real ones.  

For many years, Éric has mainly worked in the waiting zone at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport. There, he supports unaccompanied and separated minors arriving on French territory who are held due to the lack of valid documents allowing them to enter the country. Éric’s role is to represent them during these few days of confinement, a period in which he becomes an essential point of reference for the young people.  

One of his first assignments left a particularly strong impression on him. He was representing a 15-year-old boy from Guinea and, as he usually does, suggested that the boy write down his phone number. As he watched him write, Éric noticed that the youth had saved the number under the name « Uncle ». Surprised, he asked him, « You call me uncle? », embarrassed the boy apologized, crossed out the word « Uncle », and immediately replaced it with « Dad ».  

The anecdote, which no longer surprises Éric today, says a lot about the trust that young people may place in him, or sometimes struggle to place, during these few days when time is limited to understand the young person’s situation and present it before the Liberty and Custody Judge. If the judge is reassured, for example by ruling out the possibility of a trafficking network, the young people are more likely to be released and placed under child protection.  

In the waiting zone, the ad hoc administrator often becomes a central point of reference, a guiding thread in a moment of great confusion. Eric supports the young people in all their procedures, whether before the Judge for Liberties and Detention, during interviews with border police, medical examinations, meetings with their lawyer, or in the context of an asylum application before OFPRA. This involves answering questions, easing anxieties, explaining complex procedures, and remaining available almost constantly.  

As far as possible, Éric’s role is to help them cross an initial threshold, a transition between two worlds, and to show them that another future is possible.