An agreement in favor of the special orphans has been signed between the Juvenile Court of Naples, the Prosecutor's Office at the same court and the Social Cooperative «Irene '95», the leading entity of the «Respiro» project.
The agreement, signed by the president of the court Paola Brunese, the prosecutor Maria de Luzenberger Milnernsheim and the president of «Irene '95» Fedele Salvatore, involves the commitment on the part of the Juvenile Court and the Public Prosecutor's Office at the Juvenile Court in its civil investigation competences, to arrange for the care of special orphan minors to the territorially competent social and health services, which will have to liaise with the team of the «Respiro» project for the interventions to be implemented.
The Juvenile Court, in charge of the custody of minors, will appoint social and health services in coordination with the team of the «Respiro» project, for the activation of interventions to support minors and families hosting special orphans.
The aim of the agreement is also to share the definition of a structural model for the care of special orphans, through the inter-institutional collaboration of the signing entities, to facilitate and make timely, punctual and effective the actions listed.
The «Respiro» project, in the first two years of activity, has identified 305 minor orphans in the territory of southern Italy, engaging 123 and taking care of 100. The social cooperative «Irene '95» and the Co.Re. consortium, project partners, are the reference entities for interventions in the Campania region.
«I hope to contribute to the fruitful implementation of this protocol because it is very appropriate to move to help these children who are orphans twice, because they lose their mother and also the other parent at the same time - commented the president of the Juvenile Court, Paola Brunese - Losing a parent is the greatest grief for a child, losing it in this way is terrible and requires the understanding, the sensitivity of everyone to try to somehow eliminate the consequences of what has been suffered. Clearly it is always little compared to what could be done but we try, each in our own small way, to give a contribution to help these children».
Also the prosecutor at the Juvenile Court, Maria de Luzenberger Milnernsheim, expressed satisfaction with the agreement.
«I consider the signing of this protocol very important, because Italy is very advanced legislatively for the protection of special orphans, even if something is missing. On one hand, there is a lack of those who can make special orphan children enjoy all those benefits, subsidies, supports that are provided. And on the other hand, in Italy there is not a real agency for victims and these children are often forgotten and left to relatives who are also in mourning, and therefore often in the family they are not able to have the necessary support to get out of this trauma. And so the action that the Respiro project does to take care of these children, hold their hand and accompany them as best as possible in that life path unfortunately so marked by this grief is very important».
According to the president of the social cooperative «Irene '95» the signature is «another step forward in building the appropriate inter-institutional and multi-agency synergies to build proximity paths for orphans and clear and defined protocols in interventions in their favor».