Professional training for those working with children in residential care and the importance that siblings are kept together are underlined in a draft report setting standards for out-of-home care.
The report points out that anyone working with children needs to receive continuous training and professional support to help him carry out his duties.
"Carers need to be trained in talking to and communicating with children in a respectful manner that children are able to understand," it points out. Carers also need to build a relationship of trust with the children, are capable of listening to them, understand them and empathise with them as well as act calmly with them.
The onus of ensuring that carers have the minimum necessary qualifications is put on the agency responsible for children's welfare.
Training in the management of children's behaviour should be compulsory to all care workers in children's residential homes because this equips the carers with the necessary tools to manage children with difficult behaviour, a second draft report, which delves into more detailed policies and procedures for out-of-home care, states.
The two reports, which were launched for consultation earlier this year, were compiled by the Department for Social Welfare Standards to ensure high-quality services for children in residential homes or foster care.
Carers need to treat children as individuals, giving particular attention to their needs and abilities and stepping into the role of parent.
The reports underline the importance of keeping siblings together if this is in their best interest. In fact, those who provide a service should accept siblings of different ages.
To date, the research leading to the two reports found it is only a minority of siblings in residential or foster care that can live together - one of the gaps in the service provision. When keeping siblings together is not possible, it is imperative that they have contact, enabling them to form a meaningful relationship, Marian Muscat Azzopardi, a research officer at the department, told The Times. However, she continued, everything needs to pivot around the best interest of the child.
The consultation document setting the national standards for residential child care was compiled after nine months of twice-weekly meetings by a focus group made up of all the stakeholders, including children in residential care.
The standards, Ms Muscat Azzopardi explained, were based on those developed by a pan-European group of 32 countries and adapted for Malta's circumstances.
The report on policies and procedures was drawn up by a second committee. "The standards will show us the direction we need to go and what investment and resources are needed," she said.
Department director Kenneth Grech said the standards incorporate the whole process, starting from when the child is still in the natural home, through the decision process of taking the child out of the home, integration within the new system and care after the child leaves residential care.
Asked whether the department will recommend that anyone found not suitable to work with children will be moved elsewhere, Dr Grech said it was still too early to say but added that, when the sector starts being regulated through the standards, the staff will have to be well trained and equipped to deal with children.
Other standards
• Children should be given the chance to build a stable relationship with their carers.
• The youngsters should be able to keep in touch with the social environment they were brought up in, prior to residential care.
• The distance between the child's original home and the residential home should be taken into consideration.
• Carers should help children understand their history and encourage them to keep in touch with their family, social and religious roots.
• Children should be given individual attention by their carers.
• Children also need to be supported to participate in decisions that affect their lives.
• Anyone who comes into contact with children should have a clean police record.