The emotional deprivation, the social stigma, the enormous difficulty for children to fully understand and be able to live as peacefully as possible a condition, that of being the child of a detained parent, which creates very painful traumas and wounds.
In Italy, there are more than 100 thousand children with one or both parents detained in prison. In what way and with what tools is it possible to help them enjoy their sacrosanct right to two-parenthood and what are the obstacles and limits that society must face to ensure effective help and support? This is the complex question on which an important national conference will be held on Thursday 2 May 2024, starting at 3 pm, in the council chamber of Palazzo di Città in Foggia. The initiative, as part of the “100 days for legality and the fight against mafia” project, is organized by the Juvenile Chamber of Capitanata and the Municipality of Foggia, with the collaboration and patronage of the Unicef Foggia Committee, the Bar Association of Foggia, Criminal Chamber of Capitanata and National Union of Juvenile Chambers.
The right to co-parenting of children of parents imprisoned for crimes outside the family and the family relationship presents great complexities linked to personal, family, cultural and social conditions. The bond between children and their imprisoned parents is characterized in most cases by deep affection, a need for meeting and discussion; or, in several cases, by resentment and denial. Relational critical issues and complexities to take into account are the risk of identification, the thin line between understanding and judgment, forgiveness and denial, or the emulation and idealization of a distant parent. Support for the foster parent also appears to be as fundamental as necessary in managing the relationship between the child and the other restricted parent.
THE PROGRAM. The conference, moderated by the lawyer Ermenegildo Russo, will open with greetings from: Maria Aida Episcopo, mayor of Foggia; Giulio De Santis, councilor for legality of the Municipality of Foggia; Anna Lucia Celentano, president of the Juvenile Chamber of Capitanata; Maria Emilia De Martinis, psychosocial-pedagogical sector of the National Union of Juvenile Chambers; Gianluca Ursitti, president of the Council of the Bar Association of Foggia; Giulia Magliulo, Director of the Foggia prison. Following this, “The Light Inside” will be screened, a documentary film by Luciano Toriello.
The themes of the conference will be introduced by the speeches of Ludovico Vaccaro, Public Prosecutor at the Court of Foggia, and Felice Maurizio D’Ettore, National Guarantor of the rights of people detained or deprived of personal liberty. The following will speak on the different and specific aspects of the problems covered by the conference: Piero Rossi, Regional Guarantor of the rights of people detained or deprived of personal liberty; Roberto Casella, Bologna Bar-UNCM director; Clara Goffredo, Surveillance Magistrate; Adelaide Minenna, Ordinary Judge at the Juvenile Court of Bari; Mirella Enza Pina Malcangi, Director of UEPE Foggia. The conclusions will be entrusted to Giulio Treggiari, president of the Capitanata Criminal Chamber.
