Malta not producing social workers fast enough

The country is not producing social workers fast enough and the government has therefore been unable to find the resources it needs to expand care services, Solidarity Minister Dolores Cristina told Parliament.

She was reacting to repeated calls by MPs for care services, such as the fostering service, to be adequately resourced.

The comments were made at the end of the debate on the Foster Care Bill, which found the backing of both sides of the House.

Earlier in the debate, Nationalist MP Michael Asciak said that there were people, usually single parents, who went to him asking for an abortion and he had to convince them to keep the baby at least until birth when they could opt to keep it or give it up for adoption.

In contrast, there were other people who were unable to have children and could not adopt. The only option that remained in such cases was fostering.

Fostering was not without its challenges. In most cases foster children would have come from a difficult environment and showed behavioral problems.

Another difficulty for foster parents was that while they did everything for the child, this child could be taken away, without them having any control over the situation.

In some cases, natural parents did not even allow the formerly fostered children to keep contact with the foster family.

The training provided to potential foster parents meant that they knew what they were going in for, although it was not any less tough. Indeed, many still opted to foster because they had a sense of justice and solidarity and realised that justice would not come without love. Such people deserved to be congratulated.

Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg said Malta was establishing a legal basis for a practice which had existed for a long time. It was the foster carers themselves who had been seeking such regulation and clarity.

The government felt that in the same way as regulations had been established for adoptions, a clear regime was also needed for fostering.

Dr Borg briefly went over various sections of the Bill, highlighting the role of the Fostering Board which will determine the suitablity of prospective foster carers, and an appeals board where appeals from the decisions of the board would be heard.

The Bill would also create a Central Authority, which would be the regulator, overseeing the activities of accredited agencies which provided fostering services, and investigating complaints. One abuse which the authority would look out for were any fostering activities made for monetary gain, especially since people who could not have children of their own and wished to adopt or foster were susceptible to exploitation. The Bill also established the criteria for the accreditation of foster agencies and also regulated cross border fostering.

The Bill included a transitory period during which current foster carers could continue to care for the children, Dr Borg said.

Winding up, Mrs Cristina said the debate was interesting and brought up a lot of different points and aspects. The government was willing to take up suggestions and present amendments on the basis of what had been discussed.

The government had been working on this Bill for a year and wide ranging consultations were held. This Bill would be followed soon by further amendments to the law on adoptions as part of a series of laws to strengthen the rights of the child.

Indeed, a draft Children's Act had been prepared but it was so voluminous that it was decided to focus on particular areas one by one.

Mrs Cristina said time had proved the usefulness of fostering and the government intended to expand the fostering service. Church children's homes were giving a sterling service but, clearly, fostering was the closest way a child could enjoy a family environment. Ideally the 250 children living in institutions would also be moved to foster homes. Many people showed an interest in becoming foster parents but their numbers dwindled as vetting started and they also learnt more about what was involved.

At the moment there were some 150 foster homes caring for 180 children, which was not a small number, although many more were needed.

Mrs Cristina said she agreed with the views of the various MPs about the need for social workers, and the fostering unit in general, to be given better support. The issue was not a financial one, but there was an acute shortage of social workers and psychologists and, since training took time, such vacancies could not be filled quickly.

Referring to a comment that "children must be heard" Mrs Cristina pointed out that in terms of the Bill, foster care agreements between the accredited agency, the foster carer and the person having custody of the child were to be drawn up after hearing the child to be fostered, according to his age and understanding.

On the fostering of irregular immigrants' children, Mrs Cristina said the Bill gave a legal basis to all forms of fostering.

People who considered themselves as being foster carers on the strength of informal arrangements were not covered by law.

Everything should be done according the law to avoid abuse.

Mrs Cristina insisted that the law clearly laid down that one could not request payment from people who wanted to become foster carers.

Concluding, she said that fostering was temporary by nature and the aim was always to return children to their natural parents, but in all cases, the interests of the child had to come first.