Never more Alone: Reception practices specifically designed for young people

The challenge for Cidis Onlus and its five partners involved in the project is to ensure a tailored reception to children who arrive alone in Italy, especially in the regions of Calabria, Campania, Lazio, Umbria, Veneto. The project, in order to safeguard the children’s right to a healthy mental and physical development, promotes the interactions and exchange of know-how between the different actors involved in the protection of children and youth, and aims to diversify the interventions targeted at children and youth in their transition to adulthood.

This project has been the first to work on family integration through the implementation of the volunteer guardianship model and foster care system, providing both advocacy and legal protection to promote the respect of children’s rights. The territories involved conduct awareness campaigns on this issue and carry out training programmes for service operators and those who apply for foster parents and guardians in order to examine in depth the psychological, relational, cultural and legal aspects of the reception process.

For young adults, the project is developing sustainable models as alternatives to reception in bigger structures, that may allow both the integration of public and private resources and the participation of the young adults themselves with the administration.

Project partners: ASGI – Associazione per gli Studi Giuridici sull’Immigrazione, Comune di Corigliano Calabro, Comune di Mugnano di Napoli, Nuovo Villaggio Società Cooperativa Sociale, Refugees Welcome Italia Onlus