The Region may advance the maintenance allowance to the custodial parent of the minor, in the event of separation. This is foreseen by the bill in 14 articles presented by the regional councilor of Idea Sardegna, Carla Cuccu.
"More and more often", explains the proponent, "the news reports the state of great economic difficulty in which separated or divorced foster parents, even jointly, of minor children who are unable to obtain the maintenance allowance established by the 'judicial authority".
The number of complaints on this matter is constantly increasing. "And any conviction does not determine the economic satisfaction of the claim", adds Cuccu, who is a lawyer outside the regional council: the money owed "can sometimes be obtained only by promoting a too long civil action, provided that the obliged to the maintenance has an assets that can be attacked ".
The bill aims to "implement an organic intervention in support of minors in foster care, where there is a proven state of unemployment or under-employment of the foster parent who is unable to obtain, for any reason, what is imposed on the other parent , both in the context of temporary and urgent measures and of sentence (even provisional), by way of maintenance ".
Sardinia would not be the first region to legislate on the matter. There are the precedents of Valle d'Aosta, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Trento and Bolzano.
The latter provision was challenged by the Council of Ministers, which challenged the exclusive state jurisdiction over family relationships. "In reality", explains Cuccu, "the Constitutional Court has expressed itself on the subject, confirming the legitimacy of the law because the public intervention by the Region is traced back to the notion of public assistance, a matter certainly within the competence of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano and therefore also of the Sardinian Region ".
The budget foreseen for the implementation of the law is 2,500,000 for 2023 and the same for 2024.
The regional intervention, according to the text of the proposal, must be coordinated by a special regional supervisory committee and delegated to the competent municipal departments, who must collect the questions and send them to the regional committee within ten days.
The beneficiary will receive an amount equal to the maintenance allowance established by the court order in the event that the custodial parent has no income or has a monthly net income equal to or less than 1,500 euros. The disbursement will have a duration of twelve months, but can be renewed for identical periods.
(Unioneonline / EF)