Not self-sufficient

The painting tells of something unfinished. Many expectations, many needs, but when tested by facts the reality is that of a feeling of great vulnerability that characterizes Italian families when they find themselves having to manage the non-self-sufficiency of one of its members. Faced with an elderly person who is experiencing a loss of independence, an adult whose autonomy weakens following a particular illness, a child or a girl experiencing a disability, the need for support and help arises immediately and particularly acute. But at that very moment you find yourself alone, forced to rely mostly only on your own strength, including economic ones. This phenomenon, on a general level, tells of a clear and progressive change in social needs, exacerbated by the demographic evolution of the country which sees the constant growth of the older component of society and a social welfare and health system that is increasingly struggling.

A recent survey by Censis – the 2024 Report Family (Net)Work Where is welfare going? – commissioned by the National Association of Domestic Employers on a sample of 2,400 families who have started a domestic work relationship (typically with a carer), has highlighted the distance that is being created between families' demand for social protection and the progressive change in welfare in our country, which seems to have lost its mission, leaving a growing part of the population unanswered. The management of domestic relationships has now transformed into the most widespread social protection device, which is also entirely the responsibility of families. The photograph is that of public services in difficulty, just as - after much discussion - a currently very timid attempt at structural reform of non-self-sufficiency is getting underway which will hopefully yield concrete and effective results in the coming years. The positive premises, on a theoretical level, are all there, but to avoid remaining at the level of good intentions, the political priority of investing the resources necessary for this purpose will be needed.

The survey highlights how the most critical aspect for those providing assistance is physical fatigue and stress which derive from dealing with the many needs of the person being assisted: a common feeling that is also valid in the presence of a carer, since in at least half of the cases they do not cancel, but support, the figure of a family member who is constantly close to the non-self-sufficient relative. These families call for the strengthening of home services, real support for caregivers (often almost completely absorbed by the care of the patient and forced in fact to give up a relational and autonomous life), help from economic type (for example with the deductibility of the cost of domestic work), and more generally an all-round support in a phase of extreme fragility of existence.


Stefano Caredda
NP March 2024