Open AccessALIA. The Inclusion of Unaccompanied Minors in Italy
Author(s) -
Marco Catarci,
M Rocchi
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
education sciences and society/education sciences and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2284-015X
pISSN - 2038-9442
DOI - 10.3280/ess2-2017oa4841
Subject(s) - inclusion (mineral) , guardian , child rights , qualitative research , work (physics) , legal guardian , political science , sociology , psychology , criminology , gender studies , human rights , law , social science , engineering , mechanical engineering
The article explores the inclusion of unaccompanied migrant children reaching Italy without their parents or a legal guardian. It aims at presenting the results of a qualitative research conducted in Rome in 2016, through semi-structured interviews. The research shows the difficult conditions of such children, arriving to Italy through a perilous and traumatic journey despite their young age. The Italian reception system for unaccompanied migrant children still largely focuses on material needs, while paying little attention to the educational, social and economic needs. Particularly, the quest to send money to their families in the country of origin makes access to education difficult and leads often the children to work irregularly, thus being exploited. Furthermore, the current Italian legal system is not adequate to defend the rights and to support the integration of this particular category of migrants, especially in their transition into adulthood.