In Italy there are about 33,000 minors living far from their families of origin, not counting the more than 16,000 unaccompanied foreign minors. They all have a fundamental right: to grow up in a safe, affective and favourable environment for their development.
In the 33 foster homes of the Salesian network, about 300 minors, aged between 12 and 18, are taken in at the request of the social services and with the provisions of the Juvenile Court: ‘Many of these children and adolescents have experiences of abandonment, violence or loneliness behind them. Each carries within them a wound, but also a possibility - explains Fr Francesco Preite, National President of Salesians for Social - We are inspired by Don Bosco's Preventive System, which focuses on relationships and the integral growth of the person, also in its spiritual dimension".
‘Our Family Homes,’ the Salesian continues, ‘are not merely welfare places, but homes where one can grow and learn to believe in oneself and in others. Our objective is not just to protect, but to give back a future. This is why we are calling for a new social and educational pact between institutions, the Third Sector, schools, the Church and territories, capable of building a solid network of welcoming structures, trained operators and effective social integration paths, together with stable investments in policies for childhood and adolescence.’
Inside the family homes, the children find a safe and inclusive environment that gives them concrete opportunities for growth: school, sport, professional training, healthy relationships and an educational community that accompanies them every day. Even after the age of 18, Salesians for Social continues to support them in finding a home, a job or continuing their studies.
Many of them, having come of age and left the foster homes, come back to visit, to share milestones and important moments: a sign that belonging to the Salesian community does not end with the end of the course, but becomes family forever.
The educators are the beating heart of the communities. The multidisciplinary teams, made up of educators and psychologists, guarantee a continuous presence, 24 hours a day, offering listening, stability and points of reference.
‘Poverty is not a statistic: it is an open wound in the heart of our country. Every child excluded from opportunities is a collective defeat,’ Fr Preite says. ‘In Italy, according to ISTAT, more than 1.3 million children live in poverty. Isolated projects or emergency responses are no longer enough: we need structural policies, stable resources and political courage to guarantee all minors protection, health, safety, well-being, participation and equality. We need a new social pact that restores dignity to the most fragile children and adolescents. They are not “problems to be managed”, but lives to be enhanced, citizens of today and tomorrow.’
'As Salesians for Social,' Fr Preite concludes, 'we make decisive choices regaridng which side we are on: on the side of children, young people, hope and the community. Because without welcome and protection there is no future, without communities that support young people there is no justice.’
For more information, please visit: https://www.salesianiperilsociale.it/
