According to the latest data dating back to the end of 2023 (published by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies) 12,815 children and young people have been given into foster care, including 450 unaccompanied foreign minors, a value that represents 1.4 per thousand of the minor population resident in Italy. but there are another 13,408 aged 0-17 still welcomed in residential services (communities), therefore waiting for a family. The most virtuous regions in terms of foster care are Liguria and Piedmont, those where there are fewer families willing to take in a minor in foster care Calabria, Sicily, Friuli Venezia Giulia. To make this possibility of reception known to more and more families Fondazione l’Albero della Vita Saturday September 21st in Milan at Spazio Eventi Pime (Via Mosè Bianchi 94) organizes thethe first Foster Care Festival, to learn about and explore foster care through knowledge, stories, experiences and meetings.
An opportunity to understand the benefits of foster care for children and families, without neglecting the difficulties of this experience, through the interventions by experts and testimonies from those directly involved in the Affido project of the Foundation, active in all the provinces of Lombardy and Piedmont.
Foster care represents an important opportunity for all those children who do not have the possibility of growing up peacefully in their family of origin, providing them with a safe and loving environment for the time necessary for the biological parents to resolve their difficulties.
«The foster care project requires support and all the competent views for the care of relationships with the family of origin and with the foster family. As The Tree of Life we deal with prepare and follow the foster family, we collaborate with social services to choose the most suitable foster family for the minor, we offer the support of psychologists and educators who support the foster family and the children welcomed with dedicated meetings and practical tools. Our festival was conceived as a meeting and sharing place, a space for knowledge and in-depth study of the experience of Family Foster Care to better understand the positive and growth effects that it offers to children and young people in foster care and to the families involved in the project” he declares Lara Sgobbi, Project Manager for the Tree of Life Foster Care project.
The Foundation has implemented 300 foster care projects from 2006 to today, half of which starting from 2020, demonstrating the importance of the Foundation’s work on the topic and the greater sensitivity and availability of families over time. The majority of boys and girls in foster care thanks to Fondazione L’Albero della Vita are between 6 and 10 years old, followed by the 0-3 and 3-6 age groups. The composition by age instead sees a clear prevalence of adolescents among those welcomed into residential services. As for foster families, the majority (60.6%) are childless.
The Festival is aimed at all those who wish to approach foster care and is also an opportunity for families who are already foster families to meet and share experiences.
More information and registration at the link
The writer and singer Niccolò Agliardi, single father and foster parent of Samuele, thanks to the Tree of Life Foundation
How the Festival unfolds
2.30-4.00 pm
The festival opens its doors offering you family experiences and a free meeting space for families and with the operators of the Affido project.
4.00-6.30 pm
The festival continues with adults and children / teenagers engaged in various activities (the activity groups designed for them have reached the maximum allowed, so at the moment it is not possible to register with minors).
Meeting “Knowing and learning more about foster care”:
Introduces the Tree of Life. Moderated by Niccolò Agliardi.
Guests: Marilena Tettamanzi, Psychologist, systemic-relational psychotherapist, Karin Falconi, of M’Ama Dalla Parte dei Bambini and author of Non vi ho voluto chiamarmi Mamma, Manuel Bragonzi, director and author of Per Sempre.
With the testimony of foster families of the Tree of Life and some children with experience of foster care.
In this phase of the afternoon, for those who are accompanied by their children or teenagers: activities with operators differentiated by age are planned.
6.30-7.30 pm
Aperitif with meeting spaces with other families and with foster care workers.