EUROPE/ITALY - Bambino Gesu Children’s Hospital and Umana Mente Foundation join forces to fight autism, violence against minors and food behaviour disturbances. Since 1999 over 25,000 calls for help to “Girasole 2” project

Thursday, 12 May 2005

Rome (Fides Service) - An operative nucleus operative 24 hours a day faces the spreading phenomenon of physical and psychological abuse and violence against minors very often at home. They are the experts of the Girasole 2, project born of the year long experience of the Bambino Gesu Children’s Hospital with the backing of the Umana Mente Foundation. From the synergy of the two promoter subjects were born new lines of intervention to extend the activity already institutionalised of the Hospital with the Girasole project launched in 1999.
The aim of the project is to give special attention to minors witnesses of violence, children, adolescents and their families living in situations of family violence not only physical and verbal but also psychological, economic and sexual; as well as food behaviour disturbances and infantile autism. The principle aim of the project is to improve the life quality of di vita autistic children and their families.
Experience matured over the years by the Bambino Gesu Hospital in the face of the articulated gamma of situations of contexts in which the ignoble action of psycho-physical violence also in very subtle forms on children can be declined, suggested the broadening of its sphere of intervention.
In the first six months of its activity Girasole 2 project received 1,540 phone calls of which 753 were calls for advice with regard to situation of : abuse (368), infantile and adolescent unease (129), children witnesses of violence (94), food behaviour disturbances (139), infantile autism (23). It has offered diagnostic evaluation for 156 cases. For about half of these programmes of treatment were started. (AP) (12/5/2005 Agenzia Fides; Righe:27; Parole:304)


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