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🇮🇹 Italy /Culture & Society

Forest family parents: 'The decision breaks our hearts'

From ANSA · () Italian

Translated from Italian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News From a news agency In the courts
  • Catherine and Nathan, parents of three children known as the forest family, say they will appeal an order keeping the children away from their home and family.
  • The parents say the children have been separated from them for 10 months and criticize a planned, socially monitored reunification process.
  • They claim doctors warned that the children's health faces serious risks and object to their enrollment in public school instead of home education.

“A decision that breaks our hearts.” Catherine and Nathan, the parents of the three children at the center of the forest family case, use those words in a video released by their lawyer, Simone Pillon. They say they will appeal the order keeping their children away from their home and family.

A decision that breaks our hearts.

· Catherine and NathanThe parents describe the order keeping their children away from home and family.

The measure follows a decision deposited last Monday that authorized a gradual path toward the family's reunification. The process, however, will take place in stages and under monitoring by social services, which must certify the children's reintegration.

“Our three children have been separated from their home and their parents for 10 months,” the parents say in the video. They argue that the children will now have to move back and forth without a clear prospect for their future, while remaining in a residential care home for an uncertain period.

Our three children have been separated from their home and their parents for 10 months.

· Catherine and NathanThey explain the length of the separation in a video released by their lawyer.

Catherine and Nathan renew their demand to bring the children home. “We remain convinced of the urgency of bringing our precious children back to the safety, care and love of their family,” they say. They also express deep concern about the children's health, citing what they describe as a clear position from the doctors treating them: “The children's health is at serious risk and the only way to reduce that risk is to bring them home immediately.” The parents accuse authorities of ignoring that advice.

The children's health is at serious risk and the only way to reduce that risk is to bring them home immediately.

· Doctors, as quoted by Catherine and NathanThe parents cite what they say is the position of the doctors treating their children.

Education is another point of dispute. The children will now be enrolled in public school, the parents say, despite a detailed home-education program similar to the one they say the children have followed until now, including while in residential care. “We believe this decision does not respect our rights and those of our children,” Nathan and Catherine say. They intend to ask the court to consider the children's health needs and the family's right to home education.

We believe this decision does not respect our rights and those of our children.

· Nathan and CatherineThey object to the decision on reunification and schooling and announce an appeal.
About this summary

Originally published by ANSA in Italian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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