President of the Rome Court: ‘Psychiatric distress is growing, suicide cases already at 9 years’

“We should remember every day of the protection of the rights of minors, unfortunately children and adolescents are forgotten, neglected, mistreated, exploited, abused every day. Those who work at the Juvenile Court, who takes care of them, know perfectly well that at hell we go down every day. The health emergency, distance learning, social isolation, economic difficulties have increased the situations of discomfort and difficulty of minors, exacerbating already existing conditions of family fragility, often leading these minors to be victims of witnessed violence “. Thus Lidia Salerno, acting president of the Juvenile Court of Rome, among the speakers at the conference that took place this morning at the Pisana on the occasion of the International Day for the rights of children and adolescents, specifying that “at least half” of the procedures that arrive at the Juvenile Court on a daily basis concern situations of family violence. Salerno then speaks of the psychological distress of minors also resulting from the conditions of family fragility. “In the last few we have seen an increase in cases not of mere psychological distress but of psychiatric distress of minors. Not only is there a growth in cases but also a lowering of age: we have 9-year-old children who try suicide “, explains Salerno, in whose opinion the reports must always be ensured:” they are a duty, an obligation “. For an effective protection of minors, Salerno continues,” coordinated intervention by all sectors “in the territory is needed, starting from school, “litmus test of juvenile hardship”, which has the “duty to follow carefully and report”.