First the return to the house in Palmoli during the day, then the weekends all together, even at night. The decision of the L'Aquila Juvenile Court regarding the three children of Catherine Birmingham and Nathan Trevallion, the so-called 'woodland family', has the flavor of a slow and gradual return to normality which, after almost ten months, can return to hope. The judges have in fact given the green light to reuniting the family, but following a 'staged' process, during which the entire family will be assessed and monitored by social services.
The parents, whose parental responsibility was suspended last November, will have to demonstrate in practice what they have repeatedly reiterated in recent months, that is, their willingness to follow the dictates imposed by the court, starting from school attendance, now upon us, up to the placement in a home suitable for minors, such as the one given on free loan by the municipality of Palmoli and where the Anglo-Australian couple is currently living. A decision, that of the judges, with a bitter taste for the family's lawyer, Simone Pillon, who announced an appeal to the Court of Appeal.
"It would be important that in situations of this type - is the comment of the Minister for the Family, Eugenia Roccella - there was a third-party verification of the effects of the measures taken on the health of children, examining the before and after and evaluating in the light of their well-being how we should move forward". With their decision, therefore, the juvenile judges in fact recognize the commitment made by the neo-rural couple but want to have further guarantees that the attitude often considered "harmful", in particular of mother Catherine, is now just an old memory. For this reason, for the first time in almost a year, children will be able to return home, at least during the day. Protected meetings until October when, instead, they will be able to stay alone to sleep with their parents.
"It is a de facto return programme, but it is a sort of obstacle course for the children", commented Pillon during the press conference in front of the juvenile court of L'Aquila. "This is certainly a significant step forward compared to the current situation, but it is nevertheless regrettable to have to note that the long judicial process still seems far from the necessary and desirable full family reunification", adds the lawyer, announcing an appeal regarding "further aspects that deserve to be corrected". From the delay in the judges' decision, to having ignored - according to the defense - the opinions of experts and professionals on the opportunity of reunification. Legal proceedings aside, now we need to start thinking about that progressive path back home. Starting from the school, up to the children's residence which, at least until the end of the work on the new farmhouse in the woods, should be the structure made available by the Abruzzo municipality. The minors have nevertheless passed the exams for admission to school, but the official registration is still missing which - explained Pillon - will be done by the children's guardian itself upon indication of the court.
The next deadline will be October 30th, the date by which yet another brief must be delivered pending a further decision from the court. "The parents are exhausted and on the verge of emotional collapse", commented the psychiatrist Tonino Cantelmi, expert for part of the family. For the president of the parliamentary commission for children and adolescents Michela Vittoria Brambilla the decision "is not the long-awaited solution, 'release'", but "a series of limitations without real foundation" which justify "further investigation by the commission".
