FARO Model Handbook: Mental health and psychosocial support to unaccompanied minor migrants and families with children upon first reception

The Faro project of Terre des Hommes Italy represents an attempt to efficiently meet the needs of unaccompanied foreign minors or children coming with their families; it is an incentive for policy-makers and professionals dealing with migration. The model focuses its psychosocial intervention on one fundamental aspect: treatment continuity, which is still lacking in Italy’s reception policies. Minors participating in the Faro project, whenever possible, are monitored and followed over time; their psychological needs are met and their stories are listened to.

The “Faro Model Handbook” aspires to standardise the experience of a multi-year project, unique in its kind in Italy. Its aim is to capture the specific characteristics given by the context, the problems and needs of solitary minor migrants facing the Italian first reception system, as well as the priority actions which are absolutely necessary in every intervention to give migrants a proper psychosocial support.