A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the Court of Appeal and the General Prosecutor’s Office of Perugia, to prevent and stem the phenomenon
The abuse and dependence on drugs, alcohol or other substances among minors is also worryingly increasing in our region.
The alarm is also raised by the fact that the intake of these substances is often the backdrop to other crimes. Hence the need to intervene with initiatives aimed at identifying the best action strategies to stem the phenomenon.
However, the area of child protection is a very complex and articulated area, the sensitivity of the problems of which involves many sectors and skills. For some time the Court of Appeal and the General Prosecutor’s Office of Perugia have been promoters and have joined numerous projects and collaborations between judicial offices, bodies and experts in the sector in order to safeguard the most fragile subjects and identify the appropriate tools for intervention and treatment.
The renewed “Memorandum of Understanding for the evaluation of people suspected of abuse or dependence on toxic substances” was born from these needs between the Acting President of the Court of Appeal of Perugia, also as Coordinator of the integrated regional table for permanent discussion on families and minors, Claudia Matteini, the Attorney General at the Court of Appeal, Sergio Sottani, the President of the Juvenile Court for Umbria, Grazia Isa Maria Mazzini, the Public Prosecutor at the Juvenile Court, Flaminio Monteleone, the Director General of the ASL Umbria 1, Nicola Nardella, the Director of the ASL Umbria 2, Piero Carsili, the Director of the Department of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Perugia, Vincenzo Nicola Talesa, having acquired the contribution of the representatives of the competent institutions and experts in the sector from the themselves identified.
This act follows and takes into account a previous Memorandum of Understanding stipulated in 2021, as well as the regulatory changes that occurred during its validity and the ever-increasing need for appropriate legal and care pathways for fragile subjects.
There are ten points in the document in which the guidelines necessary to improve collaboration between the subjects involved and create an inter-institutional network are established. Only a timely evaluation and subsequent taking charge by the competent local services with the preparation of a therapeutic and monitoring program, where necessary, guarantees better protection of the minor and his family unit. For this reason, the Protocol, with the improvement of the procedures and the simplification of the application aspects, ensures a precise and rapid assessment of people suspected of abuse or dependence on toxic substances, as well as the clarity and effectiveness of the other socio-health paths activated also at the request of the ‘Judicial authority.
More specifically, the act regulates cases of requests for intervention in proceedings concerning family matters and minors, both by the Juvenile Court and the ordinary courts operating in Umbria, to one of the public health facilities in the region competent for the addiction treatment. The health service will take care of the subject by preparing a personal therapeutic and monitoring program, sending a periodic report on the progress to the requesting office.
Based on the data collected so far, approximately four hundred interventions are estimated per year, the costs of which will remain borne by the health service. A uniform and valid form is also provided for the entire region, in order to simplify the steps, guarantee appropriate responses to requests from the judiciary, without neglecting the operational needs of health services and respect for data confidentiality.
