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Children in Migration
Survey
Italy... [tid: 268],
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Identification
1. Name of the project/practice
Building a guardianship system in Italy
2. Name of submitting person/organisation/practitioner
UNICEF
3. Role of the submitting person/organisation/practitioner in the good practice
4. Type of organisations implementing the practice
Academia/University
National authority
Regional authority
Local authority
Non-governmental organisation
International organisation
Private organisation
Private person
Other type of organisation
4.1. Please specify type of organisation if different than the options above
5. Description of the lead organisation
UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child. UNICEF was created with a distinct purpose in mind: to work with others to overcome the obstacles that poverty, violence, disease and discrimination place in a child’s path. In all of its work, UNICEF takes a life-cycle based approach, recognizing the particular importance of early childhood development and adolescence. UNICEF programmes focus on the most disadvantaged children, including those living in fragile contexts, those with disabilities, those who are affected by rapid urbanization and those affected by environmental degradation and migration. UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia works with and for disadvantaged children and adolescents in 21 countries and territories across Europe and Central Asia. UNICEF's ambition is to get the entire region working together - as one - on behalf of its most vulnerable children.
6. Name and description of partner organisations
Scope and activities
7. Type of activity
Capacity-building and training of duty-bearers (national, regional, local authorities, others involved in delivery of services) to respect rights
Services delivered directly to children (including on access to their rights) (e.g. child-sensitive information, support services, clinics (mobile or other), reception, transnational cooperation, etc.
Promoting rights-based responses and actions (e.g. advocacy, working with communities, implementing standards)
Community engagement (e.g. local volunteers or outreach, inclusion, neighborhood initiatives)
Other type of activity
7.1. Please describe other type of activity (if the type of activity is not listed above)
8. Sector
Immediate protection needs on arrival / humanitarian relief (e.g. individual needs assessment)
Identification and registration (e.g. child-friendly biometric enrollment, measures to prevent and to respond to unaccompanied children going missing, age assessment procedures)
Reception: accommodation (e.g. reception related measures to promote and respond to children going missing, foster care, semi-independent living, housing for families, different forms of alternative care for unaccompanied children)
Reception: access to services (educational support, access to health care, assistance to newborns or toddlers, psychosocial support, leisure, integration-related measures)
Access to status determination procedures/procedural safeguards (guardianship services, multidisciplinary age assessment, family reunification/unity, family-tracing, prioritisation of children’s status determination procedures (urgency principle), legal assistance, child-sensitive information)
Prevention of deprivation of liberty (General Comment No 23 UNCRC) / non-custodial solutions
Durable solutions (best interests determination, integration, return, resettlement or reunification with family in a third country)
Other sector
8.1. Please describe other sector (if the sector is not listed above)
9. Target group of children in migration
All children
Unaccompanied or separated children
Children in families
Children with disabilities
LGBTQI children
Children seeking international protection
Teenagers close to adulthood
Child victims of trafficking
Child victims of violence
Child victims of sexual violence
Other target group of children in migration
9.1. Other target group of children in migration (if the target group is not listed above)
10. Specific target of the practice
Boys
Girls
All children
11. Target group based on age
0-18 years
0-3 years
4-6 years
7-12 years
13-18 years
Other age group
11.1. Please specify the age group
12. Keywords to describe the good practice
Age assessment
Capacity-building
Child-sensitive information
Children with families
Data collection
Dublin
Education
Non-custodial solutions
Family reunification
Family-tracing
Foster care
Guardian
Guardianship
Healthcare
Humanitarian relief
Identification
Integration
Leisure
Local community
Psychosocial support
Reception
Semi-independent living
Sport
Training
Trauma-informed practice
Unaccompanied children
13. Time frame
13.1. Start date of activity
Date
13.2. End date of activity
Date
14. Geographical scope
EU
Albania
Austria
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Kosovo
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Montenegro
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
14.1. Other geographical scope
15. Region, municipality or locality concerned
16. General description of activities
UNICEF supported the implementation of Law 47/2017, which established a revised legal framework for the protection and care of UASC, and included a model of voluntary guardianship services that are integrated into the existing system of reception and protection for migrant children. As volunteer guardians are selected and trained by the Regional Ombudspersons offices for children, UNICEF invested in establishing a Guardian Support and Monitoring Unit. It was first piloted within the Ombudsperson’s facility in Palermo, Sicily, and since then replicated in other regions (Calabria, Latium and Sardinia). The Unit works on a guardianship referral system in coordination with the Social Services, Juvenile Court and Prefecture at the Municipal level. The Unit also plays a strategic role in promoting cooperation between guardians and reception centres, as well as cooperation with local public and civil services, and provides direct contact with the Ombudsperson’s office for children and adolescents. It also aims to mobilize the host community to provide the best possible care for each child, including through the promotion of alternative care mechanisms (particularly foster care) and social inclusion opportunities.
17. Objectives of the activities
The objective of this activity was to accompany, support and monitor the situation of the newly established volunteer guardianship system in Italy, in line with the guidance from the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) on guardianship for children deprived of parental care ( namely: guardianship that ensures the child’s wellbeing, safeguards their best interests, exercises legal representation and complements the child’s limited legal capacity), by providing technical support and guidance to the volunteer guardians on four areas, in particular: 1. legal paperwork, including the international protection application 2. referral of vulnerable cases 3. a listening and participatory approach 4. cases that require extensive investigation and management.
18. Results
The lives of more than 280 unaccompanied children in Palermo, Italy, were transformed between June 2017 and August 2019 by providing them with volunteer guardians. Today, across Italy, more than 4,000 volunteer guardians are ready to support up to 7,000 unaccompanied refugee and migrant children, each one with the potential to contribute to their new society as citizens of Italy and Europe. The volunteer guardianship system in Italy has been widely acknowledged at both national and EU level as a promising practice, which is more flexible and less costly than traditional guardianship systems. Moreover, it actively engages local communities, thus facilitating social inclusion.
19. Challenges
Policy shifts and system strengthening, including in EU Member States like Italy, is often a lengthy process that requires structural changes at multiple levels. This makes such initiatives difficult to achieve within the annual humanitarian planning cycle and requires a longer-term strategy and support. Moreover, even when there is high-level commitment for scale-up of initiatives, such as the volunteer guardianship in Italy, there are potential risks that require careful consideration- particularly related to capacity for managing, supporting and overseeing a high number of volunteer guardians.
20. Lessons learned
Additional Information
21. Funding
Funded by national authorities
Funded by the organisation in charge of the implementation
Funded by regional authorities
Funded by local authorities
Funded by private donor or charity
Other funding
21.1. Please specify other funding:
22. Funded by EU Programme
- None -
Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF)
Development Cooperation Instrument
Emergency Assistance Scheme under the AMIF/ISF (EMAS)
Emergency Support Instrument (ESI)
Erasmus+
EU Compact with Jordan
EU Compact with Lebanon
EU Health Programme
EU Humanitarian Assistance
EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis
EU Trust Fund for Africa
European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD)
European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights
European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
European Social Fund (ESF)
Facility for Refugees in Turkey
Fund for Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD)
Horizon 2020
Internal Security Fund (ISF)
Mobility Partnership Facility
Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme
23. Approximate costs per year
24. Currency
EUR - Euro
RON - Romanian Leu
SEK - Swedish Kroner
PLN - Polish Zloty
NOK - Norwegian Kroner
HUF - Hungarian Forint
ISK - Icelandic Kroner
LTL - Lithuanian Litas
DKK - Danish Kroner
CZK - Czech Crown
BGN - Bulgarian Lev
GBP - British Pound
HRK - Croatian Kuna
25. Costs per objective or per work package
26. Other relevant information on budget and costs
27. Formal evaluation
28. Child safeguarding policy
29. Child safeguarding policy link
30. Child safeguarding policy document
31. Link to good practice / organisations' website
32. Relevant documents for good practice/organisation
33. Is there any extra information you want to provide not already covered in the replies to the questions above?
Contact Information
34. You can add up to five contacts
1
2
3
4
5
34.1.1. Name
UNICEF
34.1.2. Phone
+41 22 909 5111
34.1.3. Email
ecaro@unicef.org
34.2.1. Name
34.2.2. Phone
34.2.3. Email
34.3.1. Name
34.3.2. Phone
34.3.3. Email
34.4.1. Name
34.4.2. Phone
34.4.3. Email
34.5.1. Name
34.5.2. Phone
34.5.3. Email
UNICEF
Leave this field blank