In Rome, fees for group homes are rising: "A first step, but not a finish line."
Exactly ten years have passed since July 2015, when Casa al Plurale published its first report on the costs of running a family home for minors or people with disabilities, highlighting the gap between the costs incurred and the fees received from the City of Rome. It took a long time for the long-awaited response to arrive: the fees have been revised, adjusted, and increased. This response is contained in Resolution No. 335, approved by the City Council on August 8, regarding "the adjustment of fees for the reception of minors and mother/child units in the facilities of the Lazio Region": this is the title of the resolution, which establishes "guidelines for the definition of a monitoring system to ensure the quality of services."
The resolution, passed in the middle of summer, brings a breath of fresh air to family homes, to those who manage them, to those who work there and to those who live there, after years of requests, pressure, appeals and demonstrations that have repeatedly raised fears of the worst: the closure of these facilities, which currently house more than a thousand minors and around 150 mothers with their little ones: evidently, a fundamental part of local welfare.
"Adequacy," however, is—as they say—a strong word: " The fees are far from adequate ," comments Luigi Vittorio Berliri , president of Casa al plurale, a coalition of 54 group homes in Rome and Lazio. "The resolution is certainly good news, which we welcome, also as recognition of our tenacious fight, which began over 10 years ago. However, the fees continue to be poorly calculated and therefore unfair, because this is a question of social justice. If the law rightly requires us to have two caregivers in the morning and afternoon, it's clear that these caregivers must be paid. And they are just one of the many costs that those who run a group home must bear. But who keeps these accounts in the Region and the Municipality? Has anyone ever sat down, calculator in hand, to do the math seriously, as we have been doing for the past ten years? The answer is no: and the result is these fees, which, even after this "adjustment," continue to be inadequate."
The numbers help us understand the extent of the social injustice Berliri is talking about. The increase, mandated by the resolution effective August 1st, is 14%. In practice, the minimum fee for minors has risen from €100 to €114 per day, while that for mother-child units has risen from €83 to €94.62. According to Casa al Plurale's calculations, reported in the latest update of the report, the daily cost of a child in a foster home is over €216, including educators and support professionals, housing costs, and administrative fees. In short, the first step has been taken, but the finish line is still a long way off. "And it's a goal we must reach, because foster homes are stretched to the limit, with rising inflation and numerous expenses. We should remember that these children and young people are entrusted to these facilities by the courts or social services; they have no alternative, because their families are inadequate, or even absent. It is an essential and indispensable service, to which adequate resources must be allocated . We have threatened closure several times: now we are receiving this breath of fresh air and can finally share this good news. But it is clear that it is not enough.
The importance of recognizing and valuing the role of foster homes is demonstrated by the recent Bibbiano ruling: "A huge media storm," Berliri states. "Family homes are a necessary and valuable alternative when the family and foster care network is unable to provide for the child. Clearly, there are cases in which children cannot remain in their families . But mothers and fathers are often given a voice, reporting that their children have been taken away, while no one ever listens to the children or their caregivers. The first child we took into a family home testified in court: afterward, the parents served 34 years in prison. Shortly before, the mother was screaming that her son had been taken away from her. This is the reality, and it is the reason why family homes exist and must continue to exist."
But family homes are not prisons or psychiatric wards : it's important that their function is clear, as are their limits of intervention. "In the case of the Roma children in Milan , for example, we shouldn't be surprised or shocked if one of them tried to escape from the community where they were placed. Family homes don't and shouldn't have bars on the windows or guards on the doors. Escape is relatively easy and quite common: educators can't and shouldn't chase those who run away, but rather help the child understand the value of that community experience. And this also requires resources, both human and financial," Berliri continues.
Yet, precisely in the most vulnerable contexts, the lack of resources is chronic and risks having devastating consequences: "While we in Rome are celebrating this small victory today, in Calabria there are communities on the verge of closure because payments have been held up for months," Berliri recalls (read Daria Capitani's article on the subject ). "How can an educator, no matter how passionate, continue to do this work if it doesn't allow them to support themselves? This situation is extremely serious, and I hope that the region, now very focused on the upcoming elections, will be able to give it the necessary attention."
As for the other regions, the fees established by the municipal council resolution are more or less average. "In general, the resources invested are too few for a service that has very high costs and that cannot "cut" anywhere. Spider-Man said that those with great power have great responsibilities. I hope that politicians, who have so much power, are up to their task. One model could be that of the municipality of Milan ( here is the article by Sara De Carli ), which at the end of July, with a resolution, did a good job of consulting and listening to the local authorities, adjusting the fees across the entire reception system . For our part, we have obtained a promise from Mayor Gualtieri to sit down together in September to discuss costs and find a better solution . We hope to also involve the Lazio region, which has meanwhile developed a new algorithm for family homes for people with disabilities and has promised to apply it to family homes for minors as well. In the meantime, we welcome this resolution from the Capitoline council with a signal of caution, which however must be a starting point and not an arrival point."
Opening photo from Unsplash
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