The increasing number of child abuse referrals indicated that society was becoming zero tolerant towards abuse and that, collectively, society was no longer passive in the face of such abuse, Olivia Galea-Seychell, a social psychologist and Agenzija Appogg's Research and Policy Development senior executive, said

It was recently reported that the number of child abuse cases reported to Agenzija Appogg in the first four months of the year increased by 33 per cent, to 206, when compared with the figure for the same period last year.

The majority of cases referred to the agency in the first four months involved physical abuse, and a significant number were of sexual abuse.

On Wednesday, the Education Ministry released figures showing that schools had referred 370 cases of child abuse since the beginning of 2000, while agencies and other units referred another 95.

The largest number of reported cases were of a sexual nature, 173, followed by physical abuse, 127, and neglect, 103.

Government primary schools referred most of the cases, 206, while 87 cases were referred by area secondary schools and 43 by Church primary and secondary schools.

However, Ms Galea Seychell said it was important to keep in mind that the number of referrals did not provide a real and clear picture of the situation. The statistics were reported referrals and did not show the prevalence of the problem. In addition, each referral carried with it a story of a family and a child.

The dynamics of the family, the parental skills and the child's well-being must be scrutinised and understood before any care plan is issued.

"Most of the cases of abuse that the agency has seen are perpetrated by family members, which, therefore, sets us all thinking that the myth that a stranger is the person most likely to abuse is, indeed, unreal."

On the other hand, although abusers must be understood, their behaviour must never be accepted, Ms Seychell said.

Furthermore, society needed to become more sophisticated in preventing other kinds of abuses, such as child abuse over the internet. The recent setting up of the Task Force on Child Abuse over the internet was an important step.

Although the setting up of services, which intervene on child protection issues and sensitising, as well as educating the public are both crucial, their effectiveness is jeopardised when a proper and legal structure protecting children is not in place, Ms Seychell maintained.

Sociologist Anthony Abela took quite a different tack, however, and questioned the validity of the figures.

"There are a number of reasons why the number of reported cases is increasing, but that is not the same as saying that the number of cases has increased. This is for two reasons: the way that the data are collected, and the fact that awareness is making more people come forward," he said.

On the first point, he explained that the cases logged by the schools could refer to multiple reports from different sources on the same case, or repeated reports on the same cases.

"When collecting data, it is of great importance to have a set methodology, to make the information as accurate as possible," he said.

The other point is that awareness is increasing, which he saw as being very positive.

"These are issues which need to be discussed openly, and the media and agencies help in this respect. But what we really need is more scientific collection of data, over the years, to really identify trends and causes. Figures should never be taken at face value, but need to be properly researched. You could have a programme on television on the subject, and for the weeks after there will be a surge in the number of reports, but that is not because the number of cases has increased."

Prof. Abela was the director of the Institute of Social Welfare at the University of Malta, which was disbanded in 1995, when it had already started to collate information.

"Let me play the cynical sociologist for a moment. What if the agencies did not look too closely at the figures because they want them to be high to justify increasing their funds or their services? What if a politican wants the figures to show how much his ministry is doing? To avoid any such possible conflict of interest, research should always be done professionally by someone independent of both the agencies and the politicians."

He also argued that research would throw light onto the cause of the problem.

"In the past, the father exerted his authority, sometimes through violence. Is this still the case? Are the younger families also following this trend? Does the mother have more control over decisions involving her children?"

Ms Galea Seychell said: "During 2000, the agency set up an independent research body which carries out research and collects statistics from operations. The Research and Policy Development Office (R&PD) filters, on an ongoing basis, the data provided by the services so as to ensure that the data is accurate and relevant. In fact, we collect statistics on the number of referrals, cases dealt with and services opened to clients.

"The R&PD is completely independent from operations and apart from collecting numbers, we also undertake evaluations of services which are either carried out internally by the office or by external evaluators. I am personally responsible for this office and do not intervene with clients.

"However, by profession I am a social psychologist and specialised in social research. Therefore, on one hand I am quite well versed with the type of interventions undertaken with clients and on the other hand, I am focused and specialised on the methods which one needs to use to collect data and undertake evaluations.

"I can assure you that there is no tampering with data because filtering is very rigorous and many times I personally undertake it. The data are then presented to management for discussion and analysis," she said.

Bryan Magro, children's service manager at Appogg, said that throughout the nine years of service provision, the Child Protection Services of Appogg has dealt with an ever-increasing number of referrals.

"To effectively respond to this reality, Appogg took various measures and ensured the creation of a number of children's services to be able to deal with the needs of children at risk or in need of protection. Among these are the creation of fostering, child and family teams, looked-after children service, the programm ulied darna, formula one, as well as psychological services for children who are traumatised through the experience of abuse.

"This provision of an array of services is continually being consolidated to ensure a more efficient, effective and personalised service, ensuring a more holistic response to children and their families.

"In Malta, the way forward to an efficient response for abused children is to ensure that all sectors involved in child protection, namely police, education, health and social services realise their commitment towards a shared responsibility in protecting children. There is a challenge for more collaboration and networking in ensuring a child-friendly service to secure the safety and well being of children," he said.