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Children in Need in the South of Italy: Features and Distortions in the Deinstitutionalisation of Care
Author(s) -
Licursi Sabina,
Marcello Giorgio,
Pascuzzi Emanuela
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
children and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1099-0860
pISSN - 0951-0605
DOI - 10.1111/j.1099-0860.2011.00416.x
Subject(s) - residential care , sample (material) , style (visual arts) , nursing , psychology , gerontology , medicine , geography , chemistry , archaeology , chromatography
Despite the shift in emphasis from institutional to foster family care, in the south of Italy children in need are mainly looked after by residential services. These are required to provide family‐style care and to place children on a short‐term basis. Using data from research on a 100% sample of day units, residential services and children in care in the Calabria region, this article investigates the functioning of the system of care for vulnerable children at the sub‐national level, describes looked‐after children’s characteristics and life conditions and questions the extent to which a real deinstitutionalisation process has occurred in this area. Finally, some deinstitutionalisation recommendations are given.