The L’Aquila Juvenile Court has ordered the removal of the three children Anglo-Australian Family who live in ruins and in caravans in the Palmoli forest, in the province of Chieti. The execution of this action was carried out yesterday with the intervention of social workers and the police. This decision, as we read in the regulation, did not arise from the risk of losing the right to education, as initially thought, but because of the risk of losing the right to education. “danger of harming the right to social life”protected by Article 2 of the Constitution. According to the jury, that is lack of relationships with peers and structured social context “can produce serious psychological and educational consequences” in children aged between six and eight years.
Protect the physical safety of minors
Added to this, according to the Court, was the need to protect the physical safety of minors: the house lacked usefulness, utility, safe systems, and was in a state of structural and hygienic-sanitary risk. Also decisive is the parents’ refusal to allow examination and mandatory health care according to law. The children will remain in the educational community designated by the judicial authority, supported by their mother. At the same time, a temporary guardianattorney Maria Luisa Palladino.
Inappropriate behavior
These provisions also refer to “inadequate behavior of new parents” regarding the disclosure of events in the trial through i media mass “with the dissemination of appropriate data to enable direct identification of minors, including through photographs depicting them”. According to the judges “by this behavior the parents have shown that they are taking advantage of their children for the purpose of achieving a procedural outcome in their favor, in a de potestate process in which they take a procedural position that is at odds with their children and contrary to their interests”.
A story that begins with mushroom poisoning
This story emerged last year, after the three young children were hospitalized wild mushroom poisoning. This case prompted the police to carry out an inspection of the house, which resulted in a report to the juvenile prosecutor’s office in L’Aquila and the termination of parental rights. However, the children remained with the family until new precautionary measures were issued. Meanwhile, almost 31 thousand people have signed it online petition requested that the family continue to live together in the house in the forest.
Political reaction: Salvini attacks
The Court’s decision immediately sparked a political reaction. Deputy prime minister and leader of the League Matteo Salvini define the story “embarrassing”promised to follow up on the case personally. “As a parent and as an Italian – he stated – I am embarassed. Here the State considers the benefits of the personal life choices of both parents who decide to live in nature. And meanwhile, no one is intervening in places where there are actually abandoned children, such as in the Roma camps.”. Salvini’s words have widened the debate children’s rightseducational freedom and limits on public intervention in unconventional life choices.
The father’s voice: “We have lost everything”
“I feel completely empty”. This was the first reaction of Nathan, a father of three, in an interview given to the newspaper Center. “It’s not fair. Why take children far from where there is happiness? We live in nature, we are a happy family. I don’t understand why the lives of five people were destroyed”. The man informed separation trauma: children, he said, “they suffer a lot”take it “quickly” to lead “in a place they don’t know”. The full interview will be broadcast on Rete8 in two special episodes of the program Zoom, the story of our times.
Lawyer: “There are lies written in the sentence”
“There are lies written in yesterday’s sentence. The action cannot be commented on but can be challenged, therefore we will appeal”. To make it known is Giovanni Angeluccifamily lawyer living in the jungle in Abruzzo. “They had a short circuit – continued the lawyer -. The regulations still emphasize the education of minors who, according to the judge, do not have permission to attend school at home. The eldest also challenged the certificate of eligibility to move to third grade because it had not been approved by the ministry. Certificate that, however, it exists and is also registered”.
A breaking story: childhood, nature and public protection
The case of the Palmoli “forest family” continues to raise questions and divide public opinion.
Complex issues remain in the background: the freedom to choose alternative lifestyles, the rights of minors, limits on parental autonomy and the role of the State in ensuring the safety, health and healthy relationships of children. Meanwhile the family prepares for the observation period at educational communityThe political and social confrontation surrounding this issue shows no signs of abating.
