The network of organizations that support Unaccompanied Foreign Minors on Italian territory.
Volunteer guardians
Faced with an increasingly significant presence in terms of numbers of Unaccompanied Foreign Minors (UFM, MSNA in Italian) and an inadequate regulatory base, in 2017 Italy introduced Law No. 47, 2017, known as the Zampa Law, which brings significant innovations from the legal point of view and the protection of Unaccompanied Foreign Minors, introducing into the legal system an organic and complete regulation on the topic, also recognized at European and international level.
An important innovation is the establishment of the figure of the voluntary guardian for the Unaccompanied Foreign Minor. In fact, based on article 11 of L.47/2017, for each Unaccompanied Foreign Minor present on the national territory, a selected and adequately trained voluntary guardian should be appointed, in order to represent and assist the minor in all the choices that concern, ensuring the correct fulfillment of the procedures, in compliance with his/her best interests.
Associations and informal groups of volunteer guardians
Even before Law 47/2017, some voluntary guardian associations were created on the national territory. In 2021, there are 6 associations established, some on a provincial level (Siracusa, Ferrara, Palermo) and others on a regional level (Tuscany, Basilicata, Abruzzo). Thanks to the Tutori in Rete project, a team of facilitators and legal and administrative consultants meet informal groups of guardians present in other territories, offering to accompany and support them in the process of forming an association and building a national network.
As of 31 July 2022, the voluntary guardian associations in Italy will become 11 (Sardinia, Piedmont and Val d’Aosta, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lombardy, Lazio, Messina are added) and 6 informal groups (Liguria, Emilia Romagna, Lombardy, Calabria, Como, Catania).
Why a national network
Tutori in Rete was created to strengthen the voluntary protection system through the promotion and support at a national level for the construction of collective spaces organized at a regional and provincial level, as well as through the construction and strengthening of networking, to make available and share the enormous wealth of experiences, good practices and paths accumulated over time by the various guardian aggregation entities.
Never Alone
The Tutori in Rete project, with the aim of promoting the establishment of new associations of voluntary legal guardians at regional or provincial level while also proposing the creation of a national network of associations and/or informal groups of voluntary legal guardians, originated as part of the Never Alone, for a possible tomorrow initiative.
Never Alone, for a possible tomorrow is part of the European EPIM program Never Alone – Building our future with children and youth arriving in Europe.
for info: minoristranieri-neveralone.it
Zampa Law
Approval of law n. 47/2017 which defines the rules for protecting the rights of Unaccompanied Foreign Minors and introduces the figure of the voluntary guardian.
Tutori in Rete
From the collaboration between AccoglieRete, Volunteer Guardians of Unaccompanied Foreign Minors of the Tuscany Region and the National Center for Volunteering (CNV), the Tutori in Rete project was born, financed by Never Alone, with the aim of supporting the establishment of guardian associations and creating a national network.
National Assembly
The associations and informal groups of voluntary guardians met and supported during the Tutori in Rete project, after having jointly constructed a pre-assembly document, met in Milan for the first National Assembly of associations and informal groups of voluntary guardians.
Second National Assembly
Just over a year after the first assembly, the associations and informal groups belonging to the network meet again in Lucca, to return to working together on the crucial aspects: communication, experiences and practices, network tools. The final details of the statute of the association which will be formed in a short time are also defined in Lucca.
Birth of the Association
The Tutori in Rete group is officially established as a second level association. The Board of Directors meeting in Bologna and the other representatives of the 13 associations and 2 informal groups that currently make up the network sign the association’s statute and articles.