Contribution of CISMAI to UN study on violence against children.Italy's situation
The attention toward child abuse in Italy is extremely fragmented.
The variables involved are not only geographical (according to the stereotype which radically differentiates the North from the South), but cultural, organizational, related to social policies and, above all, to the willingness and the ability of the various institutions and services involved in the territory to coordinate in synergy.
To avoid and overcome the many factors (cultural, social and relational motives, the presence in the adult members of a family of self and world representations characterized by violence, personal stories of psychological and/or social discomfort) at the basis of the different manifestations of child abuse (physical, sexual, psychological, assisted), all care and assistance must be given with the firm belief, which often lacks, in the importance of this problem.
At present, it is not rare that in territorial jurisdictions where the training of the operators has reached a high level, Courts are indifferent towards this problem (especially if related to sexual abuse) while, on the contrary, many Courts sensitive to the problem lack the structures providing an adequate service to record and signal the cases.
Even in the Regions with a high number of professionals and services coordinated by CISMAI, and therefore well trained and sensitive to the problem, the prevention of child abuse and the protection of children is not always at an adequate level of efficiency, for the impossibility of co-ordinating policies, attitudes and actions with high level institutions.
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