(Finance) – In Italy there are about 9 million minors and 9% of these suffer ill-treatment, of which 85% psychological, 10% physical and 3% sexual. Alarming data that has worsened further after the start of the pandemic. Child abuse cannot be tackled from a single perspective.
The skills of doctors, psychologists, pedagogues, educators, law enforcement agencies, magistrates and other figures who come into contact with adolescents, can coalesce to create a coordinated and “close-knitted” network in support of the family and the school to prevent and early intercept any form of discomfort: this is it the central proposition launched today from the first meeting “Scorched childhood. Let’s help them smile”, organized by the Think Tank “On Radar” of the Menarini International Foundation, with the aim of setting in motion real changes, through dialogue between experts, to address the unresolved issues of child hardship. The meeting operated on four levels involving 28 authoritative figures with a focus on social isolation, physical and psychological abuse, suburbs and poverty and digital violence.
“The creation of a network of skills, which includes all adults who come into contact with children and adolescents, represents the most suitable tool for building a training course aimed at accompanying them in their growth until they become aware citizens, protagonists of their own lives, choices and dreams – he says Massimo Scaccabarozzi, director of Think Tank On Radar -. In the project, the minor becomes the main actor of change so that he is not the victim and/or potential perpetrator of abuse and mistreatment, through a series of training and educational initiatives to help him distinguish, for example, the line between an innocent compliment and appreciation and discriminatory and/or sexual attitudes”.
Among the proposals also emerged the creation of a permanent Observatory on abuses in the Judicial Bodies with periodic updating meetings and the promotion of a network between public prosecutors and operators in the sector, to encourage dialogue and ensure that individual situations are correctly dealt with.
But not only that: there was also talk of involvement of pediatricians pto introduce potential indicators of discomfort in the drafting of the health report and a possible role of training courses for new mothers on the risk of disseminating photos of their children on social media, often the subject of child pornography phenomena. “The ambitious intention is to help achieve a global health condition for the child, in line with some of the objectives of the UN 2030 Agenda, including, in particular, overcoming poverty and access to education”concludes Scaccabarozzi