Territory, borders and local care homes

The chapter focuses on the role of the territory and local actors in the management of the separated foreign children at national and local level, with particular reference to Sicilian context. Starting from the provisions of Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, the first paragraph considers operation models activated by local actors to establish the reception and protection procedures, such as the one activated by the National Association of Italian Municipalities within the Program for the Protection of Unaccompanied Foreign Minors operating from 2008 to 2011. The second paragraph analyzes the presence of separated foreign minors in Italian municipalities in term of trends, geographical areas and municipalities that have contacted and taken in charge separated foreign children, nationality, country of origin, gender and age of minors on the territory. Finally, the third paragraph focuses on reception communities to highlight their role in enabling protection measures, ensuring the respect of minors’ rights, in activating integration paths for minors in the territory, as well as to show the main critical issues in the management of the phenomenon.