In the municiaplities of Florence and Prato, social workers are challenged with increasingly complex situations when it come to alternative care programs. They are more and more in need to address prevention of institutionalization, setting-up of alternative care programs and supporting early care leavers. The need for innovative tools to assess, plan and evaluate has been the driver for the set-up of CarINg project at all level. This Situation analysis Report consists of an appraisal of the current practices of the local municipalities, considering also programs currently in place.

Children protection and care local systems are crucial to prevent future scenarios of poverty, social exclusion, and violence. Child neglect can have devastating effects on children well-being and development with side effects on individual and societal development. CarINg is an EU-funded project involving two university-based institutions, two municipal actors and one non-profit association based in Italy.

On one hand, the project CarINg intends to contribute at developing European regional and local government strategic and professional capacities to understand and integrate a child-based approach to their work. On the other hand, the project seeks to enhance the quality of support for and protect the rights of children living in alternative care, with a special focus on early preparing, facilitating, and accompanying them during and after the leaving process.

This Situation Analysis Report collects information in order to determine what could be done to provide better support to improve children outcomes and well-being. The situation analysis aims at:

• ● Presenting the legal framework on the subject of children’s rights and children’s protection system at the UN level, European level, national, and local level;
• ● Describing Florence and Prato protection and care systems for children at risk of being placed within alternative care or currently in alternative care, identifying strengths, weaknesses, common aspects and differences between the two systems.

The Situation Analysis Report is structured as follows: the second chapter illustrates the theoretical framework for the child’s well-being adopted by the project; chapter 3 presents the legal framework at the international and European level. The Italian national legislation and the local context are introduced in Chapter 4. Chapters 5 and 6 describes Florence and Prato child protection systems. Finally, chapter 7 presents the case studies of the P.I.P.P.I. project and of the Care leavers intervention.

This study has been elaborated by ARCO research centre of PIN s.c.r.l. with the collaboration of other partners of the Consortium. The methodology is based on a desk review and consultation with key informants (Annex 1).

You can browse through the Situation Analysis Report below or dowload it from the Repository section.