Moving Cities
Inspiring Approaches

MilanA centre for unaccompanied minors

What is inspiring?

In response to an increasing number of unaccompanied minors, the City of Milan created the MSNA (Minori Stranieri non Accompagnati / Unaccompanied Foreign Minors) Service Centre in 2019. It serves as an innovative, multifunctional centre exclusively dedicated to unaccompanied minors.

Contact

Centro Servizi Minori Stranieri Non Accompagnati - MSNA (Service Centre for Unaccompanied Foreign Minors)

E-Mail: milano.msna@comune.milano.it

How does it operate?

The MSNA Service Centre is an experimental service, co-managed by the City of Milan, the social cooperative Farsi Prossimo, Spazio Aperto Servizi and Save the Children Italy. It is aimed at improving the reception process, and relies on a multidisciplinary team made up of social workers, educators, doctors, psychologists, legal consultants, Italian teachers, administrative staff and experts. The Service Centre also oversees the coordination and training of “Tutori Volontari” (voluntary guardians, or citizens who have been appointed by the Juvenile Courts as volunteers).

What is the outcome?

Thanks to its integrated approach that coordinates the work of different institutions, the Service Centre stands out as a best practice example of the work of reception systems. Various institutions and organisations are involved in all phases of the protection process, including the regional health care system (including child and adolescent neuropsychiatry departments), the city administration, police authorities, the Juvenile Court, NGOs, etc..

Who initiated the project? How?

The Service Centre dates back to a resolution approved by the City on 27th April 2018, following its adoption of one of the most innovative and comprehensive laws on protection measures for unaccompanied minors in Europe.

What is new in 2023?

The number of unaccompanied refugee minors being hosted in Milan has almost doubled compared to previous years, with over 1,200 people. The City of Milan has received funding from the Ministry of the Interior specifically to host this vulnerable target group from July 2023 to June 2026.

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