Ets aim to become support administrators

Recalibrating the centre of gravity of support administration by leveraging the expertise of the Third Sector. This is the aim of the Terzjus Foundation proposal, which aims to amend the legislation to include Ets among the profiles eligible to be appointed as support administrators. A project that, supported by the Cnel, has already begun to take its first steps. "We have started an internal discussion to draft a bill," explains Vincenzo Falabella, Cnel councillor and coordinator of the Inclusion and Accessibility Observatory. 'We are at a good stage and I believe it can go to assembly already by the end of the year'.

It is not just an amendment to Law 6/2004 but a paradigm shift. "We need to unlock the unexpressed potential of the law," the councillor clarifies, "by systemising those competences, from sustainability to transparency to a holistic approach aimed at the protection of the person, which the Ets use in their daily work and which they would also continue to use in the care of the frail".

Effective reform, however, needs to come to terms with critical issues. As the councillor notes, 'in most cases, the tutelary judge appoints as administrator a close relative or, in the absence of the latter, an ordinary citizen or a professional. Figures that, although animated by the best intentions, often cannot count on suitable training to deal with the complexity, even emotional, of the task'. Not only that, the councillor also points the finger at the patrimonialistic drift of the institution, the absence of a network, which forces the administrator to 'operate in a support vacuum', the scarcity of training courses and the opacity of formal controls.

A scenario in which the Ets could make a difference: 'They would help stop the degeneration whereby administration, born as a form of support for the person, has shifted only to asset protection, cancelling the human component,' echoes Luigi Bobba, president of Fondazione Terzjus. "Then, as they already operate on a non-profit basis in social welfare, they could also guarantee social-relational support. Finally, they could transform the institution, already structured, into a work of broader recovery of the residual capacities of the vulnerable. Not by replacing them but by working alongside them. And bypassing the risk of a disguised ban'.

The green light for the inclusion of entities would also be, for Italy, an opportunity to create a virtuous precedent. "In Europe there is not really such a measure cut out for these entities because, as bodies, they are not as well defined as in our country," adds Antonio Fici, professor and scientific director of Fondazione Terzjus (as well as author, together with Mario Renna, of the report 'Terzo settore e amministrazione di sostegno. Issues, scenarios and perspectives'). "In Germany and Austria there are associations appointed as administrators by judges, but there is no overturning model: with this reform, we would be the first to emphasise a hypothesis of integration between two similar worlds. It would also make a significant contribution from a European perspective'.