Call to put children at core of family policy

Positive parenting is not only about parental skills but also about creating a child- and family-friendly environment, the CEO of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services, Joe Gerada, said.

Achieving this requires having a reasonably secure job, with a decent income, to adequately support the family and allow enough time for parents to care for their children, he added.

Mr Gerada was speaking in his role as the Malta representative on the Social Cohesion Committee of the Council of Europe, which deals with child, family and social policy, during a debate on the work programme for the next two years.

Malta is contributing to various CoE committees, the common theme of which is children.

The creation of an appropriate environment for good parenting had to be supported by legislative and financial measures, Mr Gerada said, quoting the recommendation adopted by the Committee of Ministers in December.

If child policy were placed at the core of family policy, "everyone's condition would improve".

He said social services needed to be decentralised and based in the community, responding to local priorities and with NGOs as the major players.

"The time for a piecemeal approach is over and quality services that respond to real needs depend on an integrated child and family policy, based on empowerment of the individual as opposed to dependency."

This was happening in Malta in certain respects, but it needed to go further, he maintained. Access in Cottonera was a good example, but it was not enough. Local councils had to be more involved in community programmes to address their particular needs.

Integrating and extending various services was a mammoth task, but it was the thinking in Europe, Mr Gerada pointed out. "Children not only have a right to life, but also to a quality life. In this respect, Europe has to move away from placing them in institutional care and ensure a good substitute family when the natural family is unable to care for them."

Following the debate, Mr Gerada was appointed on the committee of experts that is drawing up recommendations for the Social Cohesion Committee about measures to improve the situation of low-income workers. Its contribution would be to improve access to decent jobs as a social right, Mr Gerada explained.

A second committee was also set up to look into the situation of the most deprived individuals and to recommend measures to facilitate their access to social rights as part of human rights.

Stephen Vella, the foundation's senior manager, and Catherine Fleri Soler, service manager, community and generic services, were involved in drafting a convention on the protection of children against sexual abuse and exploitation.

Mr Vella has been appointed by the Social Cohesion Committee within the CoE to represent it on the committee of experts that drafted the convention and Ms Fleri Soler was representing Malta.

They have been working on the draft since May last year. It was concluded that whereas there were international instruments that related to child affairs and the problems they faced, such as cybercrime, there was no single instrument that covered sexual abuse and exploitation.

The challenge was to draw up a convention that was binding and in line with the different legislation of different countries, Ms Fleri Soler said.

As per the draft, recruitment of those working in contact with children would be regulated and preventative programmes for potential perpetrators would have to be put in place.