Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Milan, March 23 2023 – The Municipality of Milan, the Juvenile Court, the Public Prosecutor's Office at the Milan Juvenile Court and the Prefecture have started discussions with the Consulates of the countries from which the majority of unaccompanied foreign minors (MSNA ) currently in charge of the Administration, with the aim of finding alternative solutions to community placement, to ease the pressure on the reception system and encourage the integration of boys and girls.

The Municipality of Milan currently has around 1300 unaccompanied foreign minors in its care, a number almost double compared to two years ago and which has led the city system to go well beyond its reception capacity, so much so that as many as 30% of the children, although it is the responsibility of the Milanese administration, it is hosted in communities outside the city and even outside the region, with negative consequences on educational and work inclusion paths.  
  
"The rules currently in force – explains the councilor for Welfare and Health Lamberto Bertolé – assign to the municipalities the responsibility of taking care of unaccompanied foreign minors who are traced on the city territory, without providing, as in the case of adults, a fair mechanism of redistribution at a national level. This has caused excessive pressure on large urban centres, which are naturally more attractive because they guarantee more opportunities for inclusion and because it is here that the communities of reference for young people are mostly present. It is precisely with them that we have in recent months initiated a dialogue to promote alternative reception tools that would more closely involve families of the same nationality as the children, to encourage their path of insertion and inclusion and at the same time make up, with the tools of local expertise, the regulatory void that for years has created difficulties for large cities. A model which, once tested, could be proposed to other cities that we know share the same difficulties as Milan".

The instrument identified is that of the so-called homocultural foster care, which consists in the possibility of entrusting a minor in the care of the Milanese service system to a family of the same nationality, allowing the minor to live in an environment similar to his own, both from a cultural point of view than linguistic and religious.

To promote this opportunity, the Prefecture of Milan has carried out an important propulsive, mediating and connecting action in order to start, together with all the competent institutions, a dialogue with the consular representations of Egypt, Albania, Tunisia and Bangladesh, from which almost 70% of the unaccompanied foreign minors in the care of the Municipality of Milan come from (Egypt 593, Albania 138, Tunisia 103, Bangladesh 75). The objective is for the consulates to promote awareness of this opportunity among the relevant communities, encouraging collective in-depth meetings together with professionals from the Municipality of Milan and also specific individual interviews, where necessary. The initiative is open to the participation of all consular representations present in Milan.

The institution of family foster care is envisaged in two forms: parental foster care - when the foster family has a kinship bond with the minor - and alternative foster care - when the kinship bond does not exist. In both cases, the provision of a monthly economic contribution to foster families and reimbursements for any medical, school or other expenses agreed with the social service are envisaged.

In 2022, there were 20 active foster placements involving unaccompanied foreign minors. Enhancing the number of activations and placing young people in a peaceful environment that can encourage their integration into the city is the objective of the collaboration launched.

Foster care aims to protect boys and girls and their right to maintain ties with their family of origin while offering them a family context that supports them in their growth. Individuals or couples, married or cohabiting, can become foster carers without age restrictions. Families who make themselves available for foster care - there were 304 active foster care programs in 2022 - participate in an information and in-depth process. The foster care coordination of the Municipality of Milan organizes group information meetings, followed by an individual learning process, which includes some interviews and a home visit.

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