The Missing Voice. Sinti Families, Socio- Educational Services and Attempts at Inclusion

The lack of inclusion of the Roma, Sinti and Caminanti (RSC) populations within the Italian social tissue is a social problem that still exists, although more than ten years have passed since the definition of the National Strategy for the Inclusion of the RSC Populations (2011).This strategy called for actions at various levels in the welfare system to guarantee the protection of the rights of these communities, which are widely present in the territory and still stigmatised. Through a case study, the narrations of the members of a Sinti clan were collected. The studied group consisted of 54 people of which 29 minors, residing in a camp in the Veneto Region, and of some institutional actors from the same territory (a social worker, an educator and two teachers). The aim of the study was to understand the different points of view with respect to the themes defined as central by the strategy, namely: work, housing, health and education. The interviews show a reality that is still far from the construction of participatory social policies, able to include these subjects as primary interlocutors for the definition of intervention projects and not as mere beneficiaries. Social work is not yet fully capable of guaranteeing this minority the right to advocacy, although, it is true that some attempts at inclusion emerge.