Italian families open their doors to unaccompanied minors: that's the idea behind the Terreferme project which has recently been launched. The first child to be entrusted to a family in Milan is called Momò.
Opening the door of one's home to a foreign child lacking a family nearby to accompany them in a social inclusion process: this is the idea behind "Terreferme", a pilot project of UNICEF and Coordinamento Nazionale delle Comunità di Accoglienza in Italia (CNCA). The project is now entirely up and running and has put its first child into a foster family in the Milan province.
'Innovative' foster family care
As UNICEF said in a statement, Terreferme is a foster family project that is ''innovative, not only because it was designed to offer these young people the opportunity to live in a family but also because it lays the basis for an inter-institutional collaboration between different regions''. On the one side is Sicily - which alone hosts 43 percent of all unaccompanied foreign minors in the country - and on the other are Lombardy and Veneto, where there are solid networks of foster families.
In recent months 18 families have been selected and 260 citizens and social workers have taken part in a special training course. Ten foreign minors - including sisters from Ivory Coast aged 11 and 16 - are waiting simply for the final administrative procedures to be completed to be transferred to foster families.
Unaccompanied minors account for about one sixth of all migrants arriving via sea. Despite an 80% drop in landings in the first eight months of the year compared with 2017, over 13,000 unaccompanied foreign minors live in the Italian reception system.
Momò, first Terreferme minor placed in a family
Mohammed, nicknamed Momò, is the first youth to be put into foster care as part of the project. Originally from Egypt, his risky crossing of the Mediterranean is now behind him and his home will be that of Stefano and Giovanna in Vittuone, a small town in the Milan hinterland.
''We are excited, imagine what he feels!,'' Stefano said. ''Today is the day of 'first times' for Momò: first time in a plane, first time in the north, and first arrival with someone there waiting for you.''
UNICEF underscores that behind every story - including Momò's - there is a personalized project based on a careful analysis of the specific needs of minors and the social, educational and job resources available in the host area. ''Supporting alternative reception paths, over the long term and tailored to the child, and especially supporting foster families for unaccompanied minors, is one of UNICEF's priorities in Italy, said the UN body's Anna Riatti. ''We will continue to work in this direction alongside all competent authorities.''