A Teenager's Brave Journey: Escaping to Grandma's House and Fighting for His Rights

Escaping from the family home in Rieti and alone, he travels a hundred kilometers to go to his grandmother's house, then calls the police to whom he explains his case and the reason why he was forced to leave the facility, asserting his rights. Not yet 17 years old, Cesare, the name is fictitious, succeeded in an almost impossible feat, akin to David versus Goliath, because alone, relying on social media and the firm decision to return to his maternal grandmother's house, he prevailed against an entire system. Thanks to a message in a bottle entrusted to Facebook, he detailed his story, activating on his profile the live broadcast of the arrival of the police to show the world that it is his right to decide where he can live, in this case in the home of his maternal grandmother, thus escaping the often deadly fate of the automatism that prevails in the Juvenile Court. Three years ago, social workers placed Cesare in a family home in Rieti where the boy, he told the police, lived very badly, with almost no heating, even getting scabies several times and falling into a depressive state that led him to progressively refuse food. With dark hair, very intelligent eyes, and polite manners, Cesare has a painful and complex history: when he was eight years old, he and his three siblings were given up for adoption. Each to a different family. The father, a drug addict, and the very fragile mother were stripped of parental rights and, in record time, a month later, their children were adopted. For eight years, Cesare's ordeal has continued, never wanting to lose contact with his siblings even though social services would never allow him to visit and see them. To complicate matters was also the adoptive family that in the meantime had proven to be unsuitable (the adoptive parents' parental rights had in the meantime been revoked): 'they beat me and I was suffering,' Cesare said. 'Even my siblings, who are all adopted in Rome, want to see me, but social services never do anything. I also wrote a letter to the Court with zero effect, they never took me into consideration.' In the live broadcast on Facebook, Cesare at one point shows the letter he sent to the Juvenile Court. 'I ran away to my grandmother's, leaving the family home because I couldn't take it anymore. I had been there for three years and it was a terrible experience. I want to return to my family, I want to see my mother from whom I was taken. She has a restraining order. I want to see my little siblings. I can't take it anymore.' To the police, in the live broadcast followed all over Italy by tens of thousands of people, Cesare, with appropriate and very polite language, outlines the terrible situation concerning him and the via Crucis he has been subjected to for years. To the questions, even technical ones, he responds punctually, providing dates, circumstances, and other procedural elements. The maternal grandmother is present beside, even if not seen, and occasionally intervenes, as the audio highlights, confirming the grandson's version. The police understand that in front of that boy they are puzzled, they repeat that the decision is up to the judge only. 'We want to help you.' For now, Cesare will remain with his grandmother, but the battle is not over. 'I want to see my little siblings.'