This article aims to investigate how the foster care of foreign children is perceived and managed in a relatively recent immigration country such as Italy. Combining legal and sociological perspectives and methodology, we shall discuss whether and how foster care can effectively support immigrants' parenting and how interethnic fostering can avoid being transformed into a neo-Assimilationist practice. Through the analysis of domestic case law and qualitative interviews with social and legal practitioners, representatives of the administration and of migrants' associations, we shall identify national and local foster-care practices. Specific attention will be devoted to the role of the 'cultural variable' in the decision to remove offspring from their birth parents and place them in care, and to the conservation of the foster-children's cultural, religious, and linguistic heritage. As a case study of problems and perspectives, we shall focus on Turin, one of the Italian cities most committed to the reception and integration of immigrants, focussing especially on the protection of minors.

Foster Care of Foreign Minors in Italy: An Intercultural or Neo-Assimilationist Practice?

LONG, JOELLE;RICUCCI, Roberta
2016-01-01

Abstract

This article aims to investigate how the foster care of foreign children is perceived and managed in a relatively recent immigration country such as Italy. Combining legal and sociological perspectives and methodology, we shall discuss whether and how foster care can effectively support immigrants' parenting and how interethnic fostering can avoid being transformed into a neo-Assimilationist practice. Through the analysis of domestic case law and qualitative interviews with social and legal practitioners, representatives of the administration and of migrants' associations, we shall identify national and local foster-care practices. Specific attention will be devoted to the role of the 'cultural variable' in the decision to remove offspring from their birth parents and place them in care, and to the conservation of the foster-children's cultural, religious, and linguistic heritage. As a case study of problems and perspectives, we shall focus on Turin, one of the Italian cities most committed to the reception and integration of immigrants, focussing especially on the protection of minors.
2016
30
2
179
196
http://lawfam.oxfordjournals.org/
foster care , migration , children
Long, Joëlle; Ricucci, Roberta
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2318/1561069
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