Only 13.5% of Italian children have access to any kind of services, including day care centers. The situation is worst in Southern Italy and the islands, and it is worst among children up to five years old. Too many of these children, deprived of a family environment, are placed in institutions instead of in foster care or adoptive families. Despite the increase in the number of children declared adoptable, and in the proportional number of couples applying for adoption, fewer and fewer children are being adopted.

These are the main findings of "The rights of children and adolescents in Italy," the seventh report (covering 2013-2014) from a group of Italian NGOs working for the full implementation of the UN's Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The report details the situation of children in Italy and was presented a few days ago in Rome. The Italian NGO Group for the CRC (CRC Group) was established in December 2000, and consists of 87 Italian NGOs, coordinated by Save the Children Italy, with the aim of preparing a shadow report on the condition of children in Italy and the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which will supplement the Italian government's official findings and be presented to the Committee on the Rights of the Child at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations.

According to the seventh report, which focused primarily on children in the age group 0-3, by January 1, 2013, there were 2,171,465 children in Italy within this age group, and one in five had at least one foreign parent. For many of these children, there are no resources and, consequently, no services available to them. The statistics for Southern Italy and the islands, where the situation is worst, are disturbing: in Calabria, only 2.5% of children have access to day care centers; in Campania, it's only 2.8%. In addition, many children are forced to stop attending day care centers as their families are no longer able to pay the fees, often because of the lack of employment of the mother.

To overcome these problems, the Italian government must invest more funds, as public investment in this area in Italy is dramatically low compared to the rest of Europe.

The CRC Group also noted that in 2012, despite the considerable number of families that applied for adoption (31,343), there were still some 1,900 children who, despite being declared adoptable, were still in temporary housing situations within communities (59%) or in foster care (41%). In addition, over half of these children had been separated from their natural parents for over two years (24% for over four years).

The Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the UN General Assembly on November 20, 1989, and ratified by Italy on May 27, 1991. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has the task of monitoring the progress of member states in the implementation of the CRC and of the Optional Protocols.