Catherine Bonnet, MD
Catherine Bonnet, MD is a French child and adolescent psychiatrist who has spent her career addressing the challenges confronting pregnant women who deny their pregnancies and the abuse of children. She has lobbied, unsuccessfully so far, for nearly 30 years to establish mandated reporting of suspected child abuse and neglect like that which exists in the USA in order to help protect both abused children and the professionals who seek to identify and care for them. France had a period of very active attention to child abuse and neglect during the mid 1800s. Ultimately, awareness of child sexual abuse and other forms of child maltreatment was suppressed by the rich and powerful people and institutions who felt threatened by it uncovering. That cycle of discovery and suppression was the topic of David Corwin’s ACEs Health Champion’s Gathering in March 2026. Dr. Bonnet provides an up-close view of the ongoing suppression in France.
Read about Dr. Catherine Bonnet’s first person account of her career in psychiatry, starting from her first inspiration as a child to present:
My desire to become a physician began in Morocco, where I lived with my parents. One day, my mother had gone shopping. While my 3 years sister and I we were under the care of a young woman cleaning the house, my sister burned her arm. She complained and cried so much that I felt a need to relieve immediately my sister’s pain. I found the red bottle which my mother used for burns and poured its content onto her arm. My joy was immense when my sister was relieved by the treatment and stopped expressing her pain. As soon as my mother returned, I ran to her to tell that I wanted to become physician when I grew up. I was six years old.
Later, when Morocco became an independent country in the 1950s, we children witnessed the adults' concerns about the attacks that took place during the decolonization. For example, neighbors were killed, classmates recounted during school recesses how they had directly witnessed the murder of their own parents. They would recount their traumatic experiences over and over and we were unable to stop their fear or relieve their sadness. Our teachers chatted away, unaware of what we were talking about. When I reported to my parents the sadness of my classmate, my parents used to say these are not stories for children. You will understand when you become older.
I suffered from my parents’ and other adults refusal to address these experiences properly. I believed that talking about these experiences would have soothed the anxieties that we children were feeling. The traumatic effects that my parents would not name- and indeed denied - would fade away in the summer when we went on vacation to France for three months. That desire to alleviate the physical and psychological suffering of children inspired me throughout my childhood until the day I enrolled in Paris medical school in 1961. During my childhood, we often traveled with my parents by car to go visiting my grandparents and other family in France. During the trips back to France, my father liked to visit several towns. I enjoyed travelling through different countries, Morocco, Spain, Portugal, and France.
Consequently, I enjoyed learnng about psychiatry in countries other than France in the late 60s. I became a qualified M.D at University Paris City and succeeded to getting the American Educational Council for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) which allowed me to become a resident in psychiatry in the Boston area for one year. The following year I engaged in civil cooperation with a psychiatric hospital in Rabat, Morocco. In 1974, I became qualified in child adolescent and adult psychiatry after passing the hospital competitive examination to become Interne des hôpitaux psychiatriique de la région de Paris pendant trois ans. (resident for three years in the Psychiatric Hospitals of Paris area.
In the mid 70s, French adoption NGOs learned that I had adopted children. Adoptive parents came to consult me because they were wondering how to answer their children’s questions about to know their birth family who gave birth to them without giving them their names. I did not believe the reasons that had been given in France in the 70s : the reasons why women or teenagers were choosing adoption for their newborn babies was poverty.
In 1986, Michèle Barzach, a gynaecologist,was appointed Minister of Health. I thought it was the right time to submit a study proposal to understand the psychodynamic of their sense of motherhood and their reasons when requesting to give birth anonymously. The project was approved. From November 1987 to June 1989. I interviewed 18 women or teenagers, all of them had experienced pregnancy denial and I wished to understand the meaning of their denials. This required that I ask systematic questions about previous histories of abuse in order to free the baby from their mothers’ memories of traumatic experiences. The aim was to protect the baby form the risks of morbidity, mortality, violence or neglect before and after birth. Some of them disclosed being afraid of violent thoughts against their unborn baby after they recognised being pregnant. Consequently, I proposed to the Ministry of Justice to allow me to meet with women who killed their newborn babies at birth. My aim was to clarify if these women had experienced denial of pregnancy denial up until the birth. The Minister of Justice agreed that I meet with 4 women in prison who were incarcerated for infanticide, which is a criminal offense similar neonaticide.
The psychodynamic interviews of the two groups of women showed that the main reasons for choosing an anonymous childbirth was not financial difficulties but being aware of their pregnancy very late. Lifting pregnancy denial, some women disclosed to be afraid of experiencing negative impulsive thoughts towards the baby, being afraid about pressure on their decision making by the intimate partner or family, especially if experiencing violence. The results showed that proposing a follow up under anonymity might prevent the risk of denial of childbirth, being alone at birth, and the risk of neonaticide or abandonment of the baby. It was also possible to ask systematic questions about physical or sexual violence before or after age 18 years. The goal was to free the newborn babies from their mothers’ memories of traumatic experience in childhood or later with intimate partner.
The analysis of the interviews convinced the parliament that there should be a right to legal protection for both the life and the health of new mother and the safety of the newborn baby.
The parliament enacted in the civil code the choice for any girl or woman to give birth under anonymity free of charge on January 8, 1993. The parliament adopted further improvements followed by two other bills in 1996 and in 2002. Women have the choice to disclose their identity after the birth at any time during their life to the Conseil National d’Accès pour les Origines Personelles. This enabled adoptive children who wanted to read their file or/and meet the women who gave birth to them provided both agreed.
The clinical analysis of these interviews were published in a book titled *Geste d'amour, l'accouchement sous X in 1990, 1996, 2001 by Odile Jacob, then by the French National Library. The responses by the adopted children were published in 1992 in a book titled *Les enfants du secret by Odile Jacob. The purpose of this was to compare the questions of children born under anonymity to those of children born with medically assisted reproduction. Recently the French national Library published these two books. One article has been published in English: Bonnet C. Adoption at birth: prevention against abandonment or neonaticide. Child Abuse and Neglect, The International Journal 1993; 17 (4): 501-513.
After conducting this study, I proposed to open a center to welcome any teenagers and women during the perinatal time with anonymity. The consultations with multidisciplinary support that was free of charge. This center was open 6 months in 1995 only in Paris. I tried once more in 2001 near Paris without success.
On 5th October 2012, the Committee of the Rights of Children recommend to Austria, to put an end to the electronic baby boxes and to recommend the Anonymous childbirth that was introduced in Austria. On 5th December 2012, an article published the results of a European Study published in BJOG that showed that the introduction of anonymous childbirth in Austria reduced the number of neonaticide cases by half: Klier C, Grylli C, Amon S, Fiala C, Weizman-Hennelius, Pruitt S, Putkonen H. Is the introduction of the anonymous delivery associated with a reduction of high neonaticides rate in Austria? BJOG 2013 Mar ; 120 (4) 428-34. Doi : 10.1111/1471-0528.12099.
In 1996, I received funds to open a unit in Paris for welcoming with anonymity and free of charge, teenagers and women who were at risk of violence/neglect during pregnancy and at birth. This project won the Marie Paule Eiselé winner-prize of Le Bureau International Catholique de l’Enfance, BICE (1995) but was closed 7 months later because the funds stopped.
From February 1997 until now, there is increased backlash against physicians, mostly child psychiatrists and general practitioners. We became the subject of complaints by the presumed perpetrators after reporting suspicions of child sexual abuse, mostly incest. Some of my patients knew their perpetrators (mostly men) and have lodged complaints against me. Some children disclosed to me that their abuses were the subject of movies, I suspected the images might be used for the purpose of child pornography. Consequently, in March 2000, I alerted the President of the High Commission of Human Rights to request international support for the protection of these children.
On 25-29th November 2002 Juan Miguel Petit, the UN Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child pornography and child sexual exploitation came to visit France to investigate and wrote two reports in which he recommended that “the French National Medical Board urgently review its procedures in order to support rather than condemn doctors who report their suspicions of child abuse”. My personal situation is described on lines 5 and 6, and the general situation of French physicians is described on lines 58 to 66 of the 14th October 2003 report.
On 26th May 2004 Hina Jilani the Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders and Juan Miguel Petit wrote a joined letter to the French Government.
On 8th March 2005, in the report on communications with Governments, Juan Miguel Petit notes: "Concerns have been expressed that multiple disciplinary and judicial proceedings against Dr B. are intended to hamper her activities in favor of the rights of children."
On 16th March 2005, Hina Jilani writes in line 267: “With regard to the case of Dr. Bonnet, the Special Representative welcomes the legislation recently enacted by the French Parliament to enhance the protection of physicians who denounce suspected cases of child abuse to the competent prosecutorial and judicial authorities against legal action by parents of the child and other persons affected. The Special Representative remains, however, preoccupied that this legislation and the way it is implemented may not go far enough in effectively shielding physicians against abusive complaints. In particular, the Special Representative remains concerned about the fairness of proceedings before the disciplinary bodies of the Ordre des Médecins. She believes that physicians play a vital role in the protection of children against the most serious violations of their rights and that they have to in turn be effectively protected in this role as human rights defenders.”
On 14th July 2006, the Review Committee of the World Psychiatric Association, WPA, considered according the Declaration of Madrid that: “Psychiatrists also share the stigma of their patients and similarly can become victims of discriminatory practices. It should be the right and obligation of psychiatrists to practice their profession and to advocate for the medical needs and the social and political rights of their patients without suffering being outcast by the profession, or being ridiculed in the media or persecuted.”
There is a hope for the end of 2026, the Deputée Céline Thiebault-Martinez with 112 others deputés of l’Assemblée nationale have enregistered a law proposal 2169 against sexual violences.
The article 47 is proposing two amendments that are inspired by the mandatory reporting law in the US. We hope this will be on debates during October 2026.
I have described the two backlashes (XIX°) 1997 to 2004 in two books:
