Children, the second House of Smiles opens in Naples: in the world 55 million people under the age of 18 suffer ill-treatment, in Italy there are 400 thousand

NAPLES – On the occasion of International family daythe second was inaugurated in Naples House of Smiles in Italy of CESVI Foundation, a structure dedicated to the promotion of children’s rights and the prevention of educational poverty and neglect, providing hospitality, protection and specific pathways for minors and families. Campania is the Italian region where being a child is at the riskiest: it occupies the 20th and last position in the regional index on child maltreatment in Italy edited by CESVI, both in terms of risk factors and the availability of services of prevention and treatment. Apulia (17th), Calabria (18th) and Sicily (19th) precede it, while the most virtuous regions are, in order, Emilia-Romagna, Trentino Alto Adige, Veneto.

Psychological and sexual abuse. In Italy CESVI has already opened a Casa del Sorriso in Bari, as part of the Program involving various countries of the world and in the coming months it will inaugurate the third structure in Syracuse. Last year, more than 2,470 beneficiaries were supported through the Casa del Sorriso program in Italy, including 1,660 children. L’World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 55 million people under the age of 18 in the world suffer ill-treatment. In Italy, over 400,000 minors are in the care of social services, of which over 77,000 are victims of ill-treatment, from psychological abuse to sexual abuse. In Naples, according to the Municipality, 39% of the 5,267 children and young people assisted by social services have suffered abuse, often in the family.

Early pregnancies. The House of Smiles in Naples is located in the San Pietro a Patierno district. It welcomes minors and vulnerable families in the area, where risk factors such as unemployment, early pregnancies at 14.9%, the high rate of school dropouts add up. In the multifunctional space, managed by CESVI with the Social Cooperative il Grillo Parlante, activities of psychological support, listening and orientation, parenting support, sports, psychomotor, artistic-expressive workshops, educational proposals and personalized courses are promoted to develop and enhance own resources.

“A roof of hope”. «With the Case del Sorriso Program we want to “give a roof of hope” to those children forced into situations of marginalization and hardship who feel alone and have lost everything, we want to offer them protection and love, create opportunities for a future in which they can and see their fundamental rights respected», said Roberto Vignola, deputy director general of CESVI. “By mid-2023 – he continued – we will have launched five Case del Sorriso in Italy, where we can welcome fragile children from peripheral urban contexts marked by economic, educational and cultural poverty”.

Facilities in Brazil, Haiti, India, South Africa, Peru and Zimbabwe. The CESVI Foundation’s Houses of Smiles are present in various countries of the world, in regions with the highest levels of poverty and infant mortality, in contexts of degradation and in the suburbs of large cities. The facilities are active in Brazil, Haiti, India, South Africa, Peru and Zimbabwe and offer various types of services and hospitality: from protected play spaces to the distribution of meals, from support for school activities to personal hygiene, addressing both girls and boys, both to mothers and families in difficulty. The Casa del Sorriso in Italy program is active in Bari, Naples, Syracuse and Milan. The Program also includes interventions to protect children in emergency contexts, such as in Ukraine since the outbreak of the conflict, and in Turkey, after the February earthquake, where CESVI created Child Friendly Spacesprotected places where to guarantee psychological support, care and safety for affected minors.

The testimonials. Amadeus and Giovanna Civitillo took part in the ribbon-cutting in Naples – after the guests of Rai1’s ‘I soliti ignoti’ program donated over 500 thousand euros to CESVI’s children’s projects – together with the historic ambassador of the Foundation and godmother of the event, Cristina Parodi. CESVI Foundation is a lay and independent humanitarian organization born in Bergamo in 1985. For almost 40 years it has been bringing the heart, generosity and industriousness of Italians to emergencies and to the poorest places in the world through projects to fight hunger and major pandemics, for the protection of people and the environment. CESVI acts by providing tools and skills so that the populations it helps can then be architects of their own future. Awarded three times with the Budget Oscar for transparency, it is part of the European network Alliance2015.