In 2012 in Italy, according to the latest report of the Commission on international adoptionThere were 3106 adoptions. Decreased in 2021 to 680 adopted children: just ten more than in 2020, when the record low of 669 adoptions was at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. These are very low numbers, halved from 2019 (1205 adoptions), confirming a trend that has been observed for many years and accelerated by Covid-19. Fewer and fewer children are being adopted in Italy.
According to Corriere della SeraThe number of couples applying for permission to bring foreign minors into Italy has been declining year by year and has reached 526 in 2021, i.e. 443 less than in 2020, with a year-on-year decrease of 45.7%. As a result, according to the latest available data, no region has more than one hundred adoptive couples.. According to the Adoption Commission, it was Covid that changed the habits of Italians, created a number of new problems and affected mental health, as well as the economic level. In addition, the pandemic has also lengthened the adoption process, which is already quite complicated. All this has forced couples to act with greater caution regarding the choice of adoption. At the regional level, the highest values are recorded in Lombardy with 76 pairs, in Lazio (58) and in Tuscany (55).
However, the good news is that compared to 2020, there has been a slight increase throughout the year. 2021 shows a more diverse picture at the regional level. In some regions, the drop in requests continued to increase, such as in Tuscany (-12.7%) and especially in Calabria (-35.3%). On the other hand, in some areas the numbers started to rise again. as in Molise (+166.7%), Trentino Alto Adige (+85.7%) and Umbria (+50%). It will now be important to evaluate the data for 2022 to understand how much the pandemic has actually affected and how much other factors, such as family support and well-being in general, weigh instead. This year, authorities and associations are taking action at the international level to encourage the adoption of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian orphans who risk their lives under bombing or who have been moved to foreign countries without protection. The current situation could change things: since the beginning of the war, many Italian families are already ready to welcome children, alone or with their mothers: “All associations receive immediate responses of this type”, explained a few months ago Marco Griffini, President of Ai.Bi, one of the main Italian intercountry adoption authorities, “Civil Protection Director Fabrizio Curcio told me that their switchboard is flooded with thousands and thousands of phone calls from families saying they are ready to welcome. In the tragedy of the war, the positive side of the Italian people emerges, which is called upon to give an answer.
Source: Elle