Approximately 2,000 minors arrived in Italy by sea alongside their families during 2025. These children and adolescents, who navigate the main migratory routes with their parents, often become an invisible presence to both statistics and child protection mechanisms. This particularly vulnerable group is the focus of the latest report, "Hidden in Plain Sight," published by Save the Children, which denounces an overall reception and protection system that falls completely short of meeting the needs of the youngest arrivals.

Field research conducted in border and transit areas such as Ventimiglia, Trieste, Milan, and Rome highlights a stark divide between formally guaranteed rights and everyday reality. The Italian initial reception system, predominantly made up of Extraordinary Reception Centers (CAS), is designed almost exclusively for single adults. Consequently, families find themselves living for years in overcrowded, mixed spaces due to bureaucratic delays, suffering from severe isolation and a lack of privacy.

This precariousness has a profound psychological impact on minors. Constant relocations force children to repeatedly change schools, severing social ties and severely hindering integration. Furthermore, the high-density living conditions within these centers breed anxiety and fear, driving teenage girls, in particular, into protective confinement inside their own rooms due to the fear of harassment by unknown adults. According to Antonella Inverno, head of research for Save the Children, the situation risks deteriorating further with the implementation of the new EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, which introduces the concrete threat of administrative detention and restrictions on personal freedom for families with young children during border procedures.