Newborn at social risk

Abstract

The birth of a child is a moment that marks great changes in the parental couple and is usually accompanied by feelings of joy and positive expectations towards the future of the newborn. Conversely, sometimes birth is a socially problematic event in terms of psychosocial, economic and cultural distress. When this is the case, the birth of a child is often not the product of a conscious choice, but the consequence of inadequate information and communication, or the concrete manifestation of unresolved issues. Adequate and inadequate parenting are actually the opposite extremes of conditions with infinite nuances, and it is not easy to define already in the neonatal stage which condition may affect future physical, mental and relational development. Hertzman et al. argue that a good start in life is the key to reducing health and social inequalities and that governments should invest more in programmes aimed to support early child development [1]. We consider an infant at social risk any baby unlikely to receive from his family and/or environment in which he lives the moral, cultural and material resources necessary for proper development. It is possible to identify many high-risk social factors, ranging from the presence of parents with drug addiction, alcoholism, or psychiatric diseases, or in detention, to conditions of both economic and cultural poverty. Other conditions of social risk are represented by lower maternal age (according to Italian law, a minor mother cannot acknowledge her child unless she is at least 16 years), and the absence of a partner (single parent). A special condition is finally represented by the abandonment of the child at birth: this decision represents the most difficult moment of a pregnancy and involves the early intervention of social services in order to protect the child and give him/her a minimum prospective of health, growth and development. All these situations are more common among immigrant populations, which are therefore seen as more at risk of social distress. Some of the phenomena described above have a dramatic impact, but are infrequent. For example in the last 10 years (2003– 2012) in the Municipality of Rome 486 infants were abandoned and placed under protection (approximately 50 per year). The Italian detention centers currently houses about 60 children under 3 years of age who live with their mothers. However, the most frequent situations are often those that most likely escape the attention of health and social care workers, as some women and their families may want to conceal the social