Current challenges of family and child participation in child prevention and protection services Proposal of a practical-theoretical framework

Abstract

This article is dedicated to the description of the “Framework for a Participatory Approach in Child Protection Services” (Lacharité et al., 2022), as contextualized within the Program of Intervention For the Prevention of Institutionalization – P.I.P.P.I., conceived by the Laboratory of Research and Intervention in Family Education – LabRIEF – of the University of Padua, made its own by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy since 2011. The implementation of P.I.P.P.I. is indeed inscribed in this participatory perspective, and it finds its figure in putting at the centre the right to participation not only of children, but also of their parental figures and the communities in which they live. By this is meant the consideration of the child in his or her world of ties and relationships, in an ecosystemic and multidimensional paradigm that looks at the wholeness of the human person and his or her potential for emancipation. The presentation to the Italian audience of this Framework, considered in the context of recent national and international literature, is aimed at helping to overcome the gap between intentions, theoretical representations and participatory practices, and to highlight its potential and limitations, in the context of P.I.P.P.I. implementation in Italian social services.