� 1997
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Fri Apr 5,10:40 AM ET
ROME (Reuters) - In a ruling that has sent a shiver down many parents' spines, Italy's highest appeals court has decreed that fathers must carry on supporting adult children until they find a job to their liking.
Psychologists warned that the decision could discourage people from having children in a country whose birthrate is already one of the lowest in the world, while commentators said it could boost Italy's already high unemployment rate.
The case revolves around a wealthy family in the southern city of Naples, where the father is still paying some $680 a month in maintenance to a son who is in his 30s and has a university law degree.
The son also has a trust fund worth some $220,000, lives in one of the smartest parts of the city, and has turned down several job offers.
But the court ruled that the father, Giuseppe Andreoli, who is a former parliamentarian and a respected Neapolitan medic, should carry on supporting his estranged son. "You cannot blame a young person, particularly from a well-off family, who refuses a job that does not fit his aspirations. The parents have to pay for their upkeep," said the court in a verdict handed down earlier this week.
Andreoli said on Friday he was shocked by the decision.
"I feel disgust for a country that I love. It wasn't always like this," he told Reuters.
� 1997
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