Local plans establish the planning of educational services for children under three years of age and nursery schools for three- to six-year-olds.
The main feature of education in the Veneto region is the wide range of services for children. In 1990 (Note 1), Veneto, ahead of the other Italian regions, redefined the services for early childhood, which culminated in a substantial change to the system between 2006 and 2007 (Note 2). This reorganisation has introduced new kinds of innovative, privately run services, including integrated nurseries, children centres and company crèches, which complement the existing system of State-run nurseries.
These services for early childhood are currently divided into: nurseries, small nurseries, integrated nurseries, children centres and company crèches.
Nurseries offer educational services for children and have a social, educational aim. They may care for between thirty and sixty children between the ages of three months and three years. A small nursery, on the other hand, offers a similar service, but can only care for twelve to thirty-two children.
An integrated nursery offers a similar kind of day care to other nurseries, but is situated in the same building as a pre-school. Its social, educational activities are integrated with those of the pre-school according to a project drawn up by the management, and it can care for twelve to thirty-two children, from when they are weaned up to three years.
A children centre offers an educational service to between twelve and sixty children. There are two age groups: the nursery group for weaned babies up to three years of age, and the pre-school group for children aged between three and six.
Finally, company crèches are nurseries that are situated within or close to the workplace of one of the parents.
Over the last ten years, the diversification and flexibility characterising services for early childhood have promoted their rapid development and expansion in the region (Figure 14.2.1).
In 2008 there were 989 early childhood services (Note 3), which were mainly integrated nurseries (37.7%) or nurseries (28%). There were around 27,500 places for the under-threes, guaranteeing 20 places for every 100 children on a regional level. The highest number of places available were in the provinces of Rovigo (27.8), Verona (23.2) and Padova (21.6) (Figure 14.2.2).
Pre-schools are a fundamental educational service that give children access to the national educational system. In Veneto non-State pre-schools are run by the private social sector and associations.
In the 2006/2007 school year there were 1,755 pre-schools. Most of these were non-State schools, 57.7% of which were run by religious bodies, 22.8% by associations, 7.9% by municipalities and the remainder by public welfare and charitable institutions (IPAB), foundations and cooperatives.
There were a total of 134,497 children at pre-school, 9.3% of whom are of foreign nationality, mainly attending a State school (Table 14.2.1).

Child protection services deal with fostering and residential homes for children.
Fostering (Note 4) is one of the most effective solutions for the protection of a child who is in difficulty and temporarily without an ideal family environment for his/her upbringing and education. Intervention consists in another family fostering a child for a limited period of time in cases in which the biological family is temporarily unable to care for their child's education and material and emotional needs because of any number of difficulties. In fact the problems that lead to the child being removed from the family do not seem to be linked to the child's specific problems, but to the family environment and to the parents in particular. The main problems are drug addiction and alcoholism (11.6% of cases), the psychiatric problems of one or both parents or their partners (10.1%), the financial, housing or work problems of the parents or their partners (10%), the parents' educational problems (9.9%), child neglect (9.7%), and sexual abuse of the child (9.1%). A large number of foster children are unaccompanied immigrant minors (9.6%).
In 2006 (Note 5) Regione Veneto launched a project to set up, maintain and expand centres for fostering. There are 21 fostering centres in the region, one for each of the Local Health Authorities; they aim to promote fostering, and to train and support foster families.
In 2008 1,380 children were fostered through these centres, in foster families, residential centres or socio-educational care services. These can be divided into residential care (80.8%) and day care (19.2%) (Note 6).
Residential fostering, which means that the child has been removed from their family, most commonly following a court order (in 61.3% cases) rather than parental consent (38.7% cases) (Figure 14.2.3).
Foster children are usually adolescents, between 11 and 18 years of age (65.2%) and mainly males over 14 years of age.
Over one-third of children in care are of foreign nationality (32.6%) and an increasing number are female.
Foster care is for a set period of time, usually no longer than 24 months, but this can often be prolonged if the court deems it necessary. It is, however, a temporary measure which ends with the child returning to their family in only 29% of cases. In 33.9% of cases they remain with their foster family, or they are sent to a new establishment (13.6%), or are adopted (8.1%).
Those involved in the intervention with foster centres are the foster families, who in 51.5% of cases are direct relatives of the child, especially aunts, uncles and grandparents, while in the remainder of cases they are unrelated families.
As concerns socio-educational residential services, for several years Veneto policy has been against putting children in institutions, replacing large children's homes with a network of small residential care homes with a family set-up. Since 2002 the main kinds of residential care have been defined as follows: educational centres for children, educational rehabilitation centres, educational mother and child centres, family centres and family mother and child centres.
Educational centres for children guarantee an educational welfare service which offers temporary care if the family is unable to carry out their responsibilities. Centres can care for up to eight children below the age of 18 and, if they have an extra two places reserved for emergencies, they can be defined as emergency care homes.
Educational rehabilitation centres, on the other hand, offer educational services, therapy and rehabilitation, providing temporary care for children with serious psychological, social or behavioural problems. These centres can care for a maximum of twelve children up to the age of eighteen.
Mother and child educational centres offer a residential service for pregnant women and/or mothers and children in difficulty because of social or family relations or socio-psychological problems. These centres can accommodate a maximum of six women with their children and in some cases there may be two extra places for emergency situations.
Family centres are characterised by a domestic, family set-up, both in terms of the rooms and the permanent presence of a family, or at least two adults, residing in the structure. These offer temporary care for children whose families are unable to carry out their responsibilities and can care for a maximum of six guests.
Finally, family mother and child centres offer a residential service to pregnant women and/or mothers and children in difficulty. Their aim is to promote personal autonomy and parenting skills, company and social reintegration. These can accommodate a maximum of six women and children.
In 2008 there were 194 centres. Of these, 43.8% were educational centres for children (including those with emergency places), 42.8% family centres for children, 6.2% educational centres for mothers and children, 4.1% educational rehabilitation centres and 3.1% family centres for mothers and children (Figure 14.2.4).
Over the last ten years, the number of children in these centres has remained stable, even though there has been a gradual drop in the number of Italian children, from 950 in 2001 to 787 in 2008, compared to an increase in the number of immigrant children, from 411 to 617 for the same years. There has been an increase in the number of unaccompanied immigrant children, 58.8% of immigrant children in the centres in 2008.
Increased attention for the growing number of immigrant children is necessary to respond to the new needs and problems of this particular group of guests. These may be related to cultural differences, but also to the fact that they have been uprooted from their families and their home countries.
Children in residential centres are mainly older children and adolescents. In 2008, 76.6% were aged between 11 and 18, a period in life in which children are more likely to be taken into care. There are around twice as many males (64.7%) as females, and their share increases with age.
From an analysis of the main reasons for taking a child into care, some situations appear constant over the last few years (2005-2008): unaccompanied immigrant children (18.6%), parents' lack of education (14.6%) and parental health (12.3%), which may include psycho-physical problems.
In 23.4% of cases, children manage to return to their families because their parents' condition has improved. Others are moved to another centre (29.6%), go to relatives or foster families (12.1%), or are adopted (3.1%). In 14.2% of cases, however, they go to live by themselves as they are no longer minors.

Over recent years, adoption services in Veneto have evolved and have been characterised by significant changes, starting with the 2001 institution of teams offering specialised adoption services in each Local Health Authority (Note 7), leading to the creation of an integrated system of adoption services.
The first change concerns the integration and coordination of numerous institutional bodies which play a role in the various stages of the adoption process: adoption teams, the Juvenile Court, the authorised authority and the board for international adoptions.
The other main aspect is the common objectives of these bodies to accompany and support the couples and children in the various stages of the complex process of the formation of a new family. These include informed choice, the wait to be matched with a child, the child's placement in the family and the new family's integration in a social context.
The adoption team's general objectives are to inform, raise awareness and prepare the couples for national and international adoption and give information about procedures, conduct psycho-social investigations concerning the aspiring adoptive parents and, finally, follow the pre-adoption fostering and monitor children's placement in families.
In 2008 the adoption teams carried out 749 interviews with couples, which were then used to supply initial basic information for the adoption process; they also ran 85 courses on adoption, which go into adoption laws and the meaning that couples give to their choice to adopt, and conducted 846 studies of couples who have applied for adoption. In accordance with an institutional mandate, the psychological, social, individual and family situations of these couples are analysed.
Between 2008 and 2009, 1,311 applications for adoption by Veneto couples were sent to the Juvenile Court in Venice: 64.4% of these concerned national adoption, while the remaining 35.6% were for international adoption (Figure 14.2.5).
In 2008 Veneto adoption teams followed 800 couples and 777 children during the adoption process (Note 8). In 67.8% of cases, couples are aged between 35 and 44 years and in 72.8% they have been married for over 7 years.
The number of children adopted was 353, 77.6% of whom were foreign nationals, in particular from Ethiopia, Russia, Colombia and Brazil. On average the Italian children were aged 2 years and 11 months, while foreign children were older and on average were aged 4 years and 10 months.

Family health centres, were set up according to Law no. 405 of 29 July 1975, to safeguard the health of mothers and babies, (Note 9) and to offer highly integrated social and healthcare services. Members of staff are specialised in health and social issues and work as a team to respond to problems concerning mothers and babies.
They were initially set up to offer assistance to women and babies and over the years their services have become increasingly oriented towards couples and the family in general.
Family health centres are involved in two main macroareas: prevention and promotion, and support and care.
In terms of prevention and promotion, family health centres, within the limits of their competence and specialisations (Note 10), carry out preventative interventions and support education about relationships, maternity, contraception, prevention of abortion, antenatal courses, courses for parents of children up to three years, guidance for couples, parenting, adoption, fostering, protection of children, as well as issues concerning adolescence and menopause.
They also provide information and offer counselling and care from gynaecologists, midwives, psychologists and social workers in the fields of pregnancy and childbirth, adolescence, relationship problems concerning individuals, couples and families, and parenting problems concerning natural parents, step-parents, adoptive parents and foster parents.
They may also offer mediation in the case of separation or divorce. Psychological, social and legal support may also be provided when requested by the Juvenile Court in the case of applications for adoption or fostering following acrimonious separation. This also concerns the protection of children in difficult situations, the evaluation of the biological or social parents' suitability, responsibility of parents and of the family.
Taking into consideration both public and private care, in Veneto there are currently 141 centres, employing around 800 members of staff who are mainly psychologists (27%), social workers (23%) and gynaecologists (15%).
In 2008 a total of 78,128 forms of care were offered, of which over 60% concerned pregnancy and gynaecology, 19.9% concerned the social-psychological field according to institutional mandate, that is following orders from the Juvenile Court, and 19.2% were in the social-psychological field without mandate (Figure 14.2.6).
The services were used by 127,024 people, of whom 79.4% as individuals, 12.5% as couples and 8.1% as family units composed of parents and children. In 86.4% of cases, those who turn to the service are women, in particular aged between 25 and 44 (52.3%).
Prevention and support activities were carried out through 18,285 meetings with the population on topics concerning the psycho-physical health of individuals, adolescents, couples and families and involved around 103,000 people.