Unaccompanied minors, pathway to autonomy even beyond the age of 18

The right of theunaccompanied foreign minor to complete the course of social integration undertaken cannot be denied by the court, just because he/she has become an adult before having made an application to continue the integration programme. The foster care to the Social Services can be extended until the age of twenty-one - by means of an application to be made immediately before or immediately after coming of age - if the extra years are aimed at the autonomy of the child. The Court of Cassation, upholding the appeal of a young man, clarifies, therefore, that at the age of eighteen, "the forfeiture of any action taken is not triggered and the Juvenile Court legitimately operates also for the age range above eighteen years as long as one falls within the eighteen to twenty-one age range and the need to complete the procedure already positively started is fully demonstrated".

The Court of Appeal, Juvenile section, in line with the Court had rejected the application of the boy disembarked, at 17 years of age alone in Lampedusa, to ascertain - as provided for by law 47/2017 on enhanced protection for unaccompanied minors - the right to continue his stay in the community until he turned twenty-one years of age to complete the educational, scholastic and training process underway. However, the judges had denied this right because the boy had come of age 'by ordering the dismissal of the proceedings and declaring their lack of competence regarding the continuation of the unaccompanied foreigner's stay in the community'.

The Supreme Court, rule in hand, clarifies that 'when an unaccompanied foreign minor, upon reaching the age of majority, although having embarked on a path of social reintegration, needs prolonged support aimed at the successful outcome of this path towards autonomy, the Juvenile Court may order, also at the request of the social services, by reasoned decree, the fostering of him/her to the social services, however not beyond the age of 21'.

In its literal wording, the law thus provides that administrative continuation may be ordered 'on reaching the age of majority', without specifying any time limit within which the application should be made. In the case examined, the African boy had no family ties in Italy. At the hearing he had said that he was comfortable in the community. A thesis confirmed by the representative of the facility. The young man was attending a course in the community to learn Italian in view of a professional training useful to become a driver and a forwarding agent, he also played football and had signed a seasonal contract to work in a bathing establishment in Salerno. This was not enough for the court to dismiss his case because his 18th birthday had passed without an application to extend the programme. For the judges, however, the right of the Territorial Social Services to extend his stay in the community until the age of 21 remained unaffected. For the Court of Cassation, however, the Court can and must do so, if there is a path to be completed.