How to evenly balance the right to emotional stability with the best interests of the child?

The grandparents' right to maintain a relationship with their grandchildren and to support them in their upbringing even when the situation in the family is not the most peaceful, when conflicts have arisen between parents and grandparents or, as is more often the case, between one parent (in particular the one with whom the children are predominantly living) and a branch of the relatives in the ascending line, has been expressly established in both domestic and supranational law.

The Italian legislature has in fact introduced a specific legislative provision to affirm the so-called "right of access" of grandparents to their grandchildren, while case law has sought to provide "operational instructions" that are useful for defining the limits and conditions governing the exercise of this right.

An in-depth study of the case law on the grandparent/grandchild relationship in a family in crisis is attached.