An update from the Italian National Coordinator Centro per la Salute delle Bambine e dei Bambini.
Within the National Program to promote inclusion and fight poverty, which covers the 2021-27 period and in harmony with priority 2 of the Child Guarantee National Plan, the Italian Ministry of Labor and Social Policies (MLPS) published in January 2025 a call for co-designing and co-planning of a national program aimed at preventing educational poverty, social exclusion, intrafamilial violence, early onset of inequalities and to promote holistic child development and the appropriate utilization of all social, education and health services by families with children.
The program’s target are families with children aged 0 to 3, with a universal progressive approach and special focus on disadvantaged and vulnerable families, such as those entitled to receive the “inclusion check”. Interventions will include pre- and post-natal home visits, family centers and parenting groups and will promote intersectoral and multiprofessional training and collaboration, in line with EU recommendation to strengthen coordination among all subjects involved in support to parental resources and responsive caregiving.
The program will have the Ambiti Territoriali Sociali – administrative entities which coordinate social interventions within a territory – as the implementing agencies, with the technical support of the NGO, or NGO’s consortium, which will be selected for this purpose. Up to 80 million euros will be allocated by the MLPS for program implementation, which ensures that a significant proportion of the country will be involved.
The same principles and contents are now part of the 6th National Plan of Action to promote children’s rights and their development (6° Piano nazionale di azione e di interventi per la tutela dei diritti e lo sviluppo dei soggetti in età evolutive) that Italy’s government has now presented to Parliament, which now includes a section on parenting support.
In Italy, investment in early parenting support has been so far limited to small scale projects mainly promoted by NGOs or by local administrations. The recognition of its importance should be seen as the result of advocacy efforts based on evidence of successful experiences.
Photo: “Italian Parliament Building” by Caribb, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
