Editorial

Changing lifestyles have created new problems, new heartaches in a society endlessly seeking new innovations and instant gratification.

By no means do we need scientific studies, seminars or official declarations to wake up to the cold fact that our children too are feeling the impact of such rapid changes. But official and scientific analysis can make the problems more evident, even pinpoint some of the causes and possibly suggest remedies or at least open the door to those who want to walk in.

Appogg says the number of cases involving children handled by them has risen by 79 per cent between 2001 and 2003, a rise owed not necessarily to an increase in abuse but, possibly, also to better accessibility, as chief executive officer Joe Gerada made clear.

Family and Social Solidarity Minister Dolores Cristina said some were growing up with problems and it was imperative to take care of them. She said that at present there were about 160 children under a care order - about 30 of whom were unaccompanied child illegal immigrants. She said fostering was a success story enjoying high demand.

Another spokesman, the Commissioner for Children, Sonia Camilleri, speaking to The Times on a half-day seminar on Reaching Out To Young People With Anti-Social Behaviour, organised by Appogg, said she felt society was failing young people with anti-social behaviour and it was crucial for all professionals concerned to come together to set up a specialised programme to steer them clear from a life of crime.

There is concern that we are not yet fully behind an effort to address the matter. "We have hundreds of young people in schools who are at risk of a 'criminal career' and we need to focus more energy and resources on these problems," she pointed out. Very worrying was another point she raised: that, while there is a psychiatrist at Yours - the correctional facility for young people - there is no regular psychologist and all 19 inmates are on medication.

There is great need of counselling services in schools. More psychologists and family therapists are needed to guide these young people, she says. Psychologist Minain Geraldi, in a study on young offenders, noted that the rate of recidivism was high.

The fact is - and we have known it for a long time - a number of pupils fall through the net of education and receive little benefit. That is as true of academic matters as of social ones. Children do not learn social responsibility from films like American Pies and Saw Chain Massacres. They need more positive education and leadership.

Schools should address social skills more, teaching children about family life and responsibility at all stages. All too often we let television and the internet fill the areas of the soul where responsibility, respect for inherited values and esteem for the good and the beautiful should be at home. But how strong are our homes today? Is it not time to start thinking again about the urgent need of strengthening values? Where exactly are we heading for?

Many of the ills society is facing today are signs of the times - times when the urge for instant gratification is leading to undue stresses in both individual and, more so, family life. The whole of society has a responsibility to the future generation. Society must know what it wants and needs to find means of passing on its acquired wisdom to the next-in-line.