Children in institutions 'lose attachment skills'

Leaving children in institutions is damaging, especially if it happens early in a child's life, Kathleen Kufeldt, the vice president of the International Foster Care Organisation (Ifco), believes.

Children who spend time in institutions find it harder to build relationships because their attachment skills are lost.

The groundwork for trust and attachment is laid out during the first two years of a child's life, and if those formative years are spent in an institution, it is extremely difficult for a child to trust anyone.

The former mathematician, who later went on to specialise in social work, said even children's intelligence deteriorates if they spend time in an institution.

They tend to do very poorly at school. In fact, studies have shown that a child's IQ improves when placed in a positive home environment.

And the bigger the institution, the worse it is for the children.

"When a child is in a family, there are various stimuli, including the interactions between different family members. Very few institutions have that level of interaction.

"Moreover, most people in institutions work on shift and they have too many children to take care of," she said.

Dr Kufeldt, who was in Malta to take part in an international conference organised by Ifco and Agenzija Appogg, strongly believes that foster care is the best option for children who cannot live with their own family. "It gives them parents to attach to."

Agencies should decide very early on what the best plans for a child are and not move a child at the first sign of trouble.

"When children come into a new place they try very hard to behave. But when they feel they might be staying with that family for a while, they want to test whether those people would still want them if they are bad, and they tend to act out.

"The sad thing is that often, as soon as this happens, social workers think this was not a good match and the child should be moved.

"But most of the moves are unnecessary because if we go past the testing stage the child will normally settle down."

Having fostered a child herself, Dr Kufeldt talks through experience. She believes that ideally the child's birth parents should be included in any decision making, together with the foster carers and possibly even the child.

It is very rare for natural parents not to care about the child if they are treated properly and sensitively.

"Most natural parents withdraw because they feel they are not good enough. It is important to help them see what they can give their child, and that the child still needs their love even if they cannot live together," she said.

The most difficult part of being a foster carer is when the social worker taking care of the case does not recognise that carers have the child's best interest at heart and are not allowed to take certain decisions.

"But we found it very rewarding to see the child blossom," she said of her own experience.

"We are now foster grandparents and very proud of the girl. When she gave birth to her first child, she phoned to say she felt lucky to have a mother whom she could call, considering that her natural mother is dead."

Dr Kufeldt believes that there are still not enough checks to make sure that foster carers are suitable for the job and are not doing it solely for the money.

In a study she did while researching her doctorate, Dr Kufeldt found that children were never interviewed alone.

Asked about the situation in Malta, Dr Kufeldt said she was worried to hear that there were still a lot of very young children in institutions.

When contacted, Foundation for Social Welfare Services chief executive Joe Gerada said although fostering here had made big advances, the result would be felt when the number of children in institutions - which is currently between 250 and 300 - goes down drastically, and the country reaches a point where there is no need to institutionalise children because a fully developed and robust foster care system is in place.

There are over 140 foster families and more than 150 children in foster care.

Last week Family Minister Dolores Cristina called for more families to become foster carers.