The 2008-2009 Two-year report on the condition of children and adolescents in Italy collects the contributions of the various working groups of the National Observatory on Childhood and Adolescence. Being divided on a thematic basis, the working groups investigated different aspects and phenomena related to childhood and adolescence and to the system of services, as well as the measures taken to protect and to promote the rights of children and adolescents in Italy.

After the introduction by Francesco Paolo Occhiogrosso, Chairperson of the National Centre, in the following chapters the volume presents the analyses and proposals of the working groups in several fields: social participation; the relationship between generations; the condition of Roma, Sinti and Caminanti people; the intercultural society; the fight against poverty and exclusion; the system for the protection of children; the network of integrated services.

These analyses give decision-makers and experts the opportunity to accurately assess the condition of children and adolescents in Italy and the policies and services targeted at them. In turn, this makes it possible to identify which steps are necessary for the construction of a new welfare system, capable of responding to the rapid social changes and of guaranteeing the actual implementation of children’s rights.