Family in the Woods, now Meloni announces an inspection in Court while there is a risk that the three children will be put up for adoption

The case of the so-called "family in the woods" of Palmoli has a new chapter. The Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has spoken out strongly on the matter during a TV appearance, announcing a direct action from the government: "Minister Nordio is sending an inspection, I spoke to him yesterday".

The words of the President of the Council, spoken during the Fuori dal Coro on Rete 4 program, come after the latest decision from the Juvenile Court of L'Aquila, which ordered the removal of the mother from the foster home in Vasto, where she was temporarily living with her three children.

"It leaves me speechless", Meloni stated, emphasizing how this latest separation inflicts on the minors "another heavy trauma", resulting, according to the Prime Minister, "also from ideological readings" that leave one feeling helpless.

The ministerial inspection comes at the most critical and delicate moment for the three children after their removal from their cottage in the Abruzzo woods, which occurred on November 20, 2025. After nearly four months in the protected facility in Vasto, the new order not only removes the maternal figure, but also provides for the simultaneous transfer of the children to another community.

Behind this drastic measure are the reports from the educational team of the facility: according to the operators, the mother has maintained behaviors perceived as "hostile and interfering" with the educational work, effectively rendering the minors' socialization and education "unmanageable". These are accusations that the defense strongly rejects, framing the woman's behaviors within a deep experience of anguish and distrust towards institutions she considers biased.

However, it is precisely on this deep fracture that the most alarming warning arises: the real risk that the children may end up being put up for adoption.

Tonino Cantelmi, psychiatrist and expert witness, does not mince words, describing the removal of the mother as "a wrong and dangerous path that can lead to the risk of adoption". According to the expert, separation from the attachment figure in an already severely compromised situation risks multiplying traumas infinitely, fostering regressions, anxiety states, and emotional withdrawal in minors. Cantelmi openly denounces a "chain of errors" in the management of the case and proposes a clear alternative: family reunification supported by rigorous and constant health and social monitoring by the local health authority, to avoid dramatic outcomes. Adoption, in fact, represents in Italian law the most incisive and irreversible outcome, a definitive step that severs all ties with the family of origin.

The story has now transcended the courtroom to become a heated political clash. Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has announced an imminent visit to Palmoli, calling the measures taken against the children a true "institutionalized violence" and promising his commitment to bring the minors home. Meanwhile, the Regional Ombudsman for Childhood and Adolescence, Alessandra De Febis, has intervened to obtain a temporary truce: the children will remain "at least for these hours" in the Vasto facility, temporarily suspending the transfer to limit stress and ensure visits from the father.

Adding to the murky atmosphere is the storm surrounding the psychologist assigned to the evaluation tests: according to the defense, the professional had previously published hostile posts on social networks against the family, a circumstance that the Ombudsman has described as "of extreme seriousness" as it undermines the impartiality essential in such delicate proceedings.

While the Ministry of Justice shines a spotlight on the procedures of the juvenile court, the fate of the three siblings hangs by a thread, teetering between the right to continuity of family ties and the specter of a definitive adoption.