It was a fine morning in July. A knock on the door and the boy, the second youngest of four children went to answer it. His parents were out. Outside were two social workers and a police inspector, come to take away his sister.

The boy called his father on his cell phone and the man returned hurriedly from the field to see what was happening.

"At it again, you rascal?" one of the social workers greeted him.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

The social worker mentioned the word abuse. It was enough to spark him off. He got angry and started shouting. The wife returned and moved everyone inside. The argument continued. The husband was asked to go to the police station. He refused.

Then he was asked to give his consent for social services to take his 16-year-old daughter. He refused. The woman police inspector made a phone call.

"We've got a court order," she said. "The girl comes with us."

And they left.

This was July 11, a month ago yesterday. Since then, the parents have not been approached by the authorities. No one has offered an explanation or asked to question them. The father has not been interrogated by the police and has not seen his daughter since. The mother has been allowed to visit but feels she has now completely lost any authority over her daughter.

"They broke up our family," she says quietly. "There was no explanation and we've had to piece everything together ourselves."

Rita (the names are fictitious) thinks her daughter made up a story implicating her father in sexual abuse in retaliation for her parents' disciplining efforts.

"Nina started seeing a 20-year-old man some time ago. We didn't have a problem with him but she started coming home after midnight and we didn't like it. We had set midnight as the time we expected her home but she constantly defied us," Rita says.

"About a week before all this, she came in late and we were angry at her. I had long been suspecting that her boyfriend would be listening at the door during these arguments and I went to open the door and found him outside.

"We live in an apartment so he had to come up a flight of stairs to stand outside our door. I asked him what he was doing there and he hit me. He only stopped hitting me because my daughter ran out screaming, asking him what he thought he was doing.

"After that, we told Nina she could not see him any more and took away her mobile phone. I reported him to the police. We let her use the internet, however, and we think she managed to get in touch with him like that.

"Two days later, we got a phone call from Appogg, asking us to take our daughter with us because they wanted to speak to us. We went. After waiting for an hour or so, they spoke to our daughter. They were in there for ages and no one said a word to us.

"Then someone came out and told us that Nina should follow a programme which would last between one and three months. I was going to accept because I didn't realise they meant she would have to leave home and I knew Nina had some behavioural problems and that she needed some discipline.

"At that point, no one mentioned any allegations of sexual abuse, or even abuse. We were told not to shout at her. One of the social workers told us: 'You're taking her today but you will not take her home again another time.'

"Two days later, they came and took her away."

Joey, the father, takes up the story from here.

"They said I had grabbed her breast and touched her private parts. I got really angry when they said that and I made a bit of a scene. But Nina said it wasn't true. They couldn't understand why I was so angry and told me that Nina was scared and under pressure because of the fuss I was making.

"I have never even hit my daughter let alone done these unspeakable things to her. I do shout at her, it's true, but if I don't shout at her how can I reprimand her? I thought the police would send for me so I could tell them all this but I haven't heard from them. They haven't asked to speak to me and I have no contact with my daughter at all."

Rita says the social workers promised her that her daughter would not be allowed to see her boyfriend.

"Not only is she allowed out with him, but she is now also working for his father. We were told she would have to abide by the rules but she's doing exactly as she pleases. I bet she's not particularly worried about coming back home. She's got what she wanted. She's completely under her boyfriend's thumb.

"At this point, we just want her back. We don't care any more about whether or not she sees her boyfriend, we just want our daughter back, or at least someone to tell us what is happening."

The couple's lawyer, Dr Peter Fenech, said he was being left with no option but to take judicial action unless there was some development in the case and the parents were informed of it.

"We wanted to avoid instituting proceedings because we had the impression there was an investigation under way and the last thing we wanted to do was hinder it. We have nothing to hide. But we cannot afford to let matters fall between two stools, which is what seems to have happened."

Meanwhile, Appogg chief executive Joe Gerada confirmed that the Magistrates' Court had issued a court order but said Appogg were only secondary players in the case.

"This is now a police case. The social workers asked for police presence for their own protection during a routine home visit because they had previously been victims of aggression. The court order was requested during the visit. It has only been issued verbally up to now and we have been trying to get it in writing from the police but they, in turn, still have not obtained the written order."

Mr Gerada felt he could not comment further because of the confidential nature of social work cases but said it was now up to the court to take a final decision on the case.

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