Re-thinking our social policy

The University of Malta's Department of Social Policy and Social Work is proposing a Masters course with immigration, children and the family, including domestic violence, as some of its specialist subjects. It regards these as important areas for Malta's future social policy development and social work practice.

To help it develop academic curriculums and educational materials for the proposed Masters in Social Work and Social Policy, the department engaged the services of Prof. Robert J. Wineburg, a professor of social work at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, who visited the University twice, in March 2007 and last month.

During his visits, which were supported under the US Fulbright Senior Specialist programme, Prof. Wineburg delivered two short continuous professional development courses. The department will draw on materials he presened in these short courses to develop the Masters.

Migration, both legal and illegal, is set to become an increasing world phenomenon due to a combination of rising population, climate change, rising food prices, and growing poverty. Africa's population alone is predicted to rise from its current 800 million to 1.8 billion in 2050. Scientific studies have shown that for the past 2,000 years average global sea levels have varied by only 20 cm. By 2100, it is estimated that they will rise between one and-one-and-a-half metres, and poor people in low-lying nations like Bangladesh are most at risk.

At the same time, Europe needs migrants for demographic reasons, such as declining fertility. According to the European Commission, 67 per cent of people in the EU are of working age; by 2050, it will be 57 per cent.

Stephen Castles, a professor of migration and refugee studies at Oxford University says, "You can't have economic growth without migrants. Any country that tries to prevent migration is dooming itself to a stagnant or declining economy."

Prof. Wineburg told The Sunday Times: "The University of Malta should use its intellectual power to shape policy. We should be talking about issues that really affect the world. We have to manage bad situations to make them manageable. Africa is over-populated and under-developed and this, combined with civil wars and climate change, is inevitably leading to more migration towards other parts of the world, particularly Europe. Africa's long-term solution is economic development and family planning."

Asked why the University's Department of Social Policy and Social Work had chosen to focus on immigration, Sociology professor and Dominican priest Charles Tabone, who heads the department, said: "The University is one of the various players in Maltese society that must respond to this new and very complex problem. Various government departments and entities, NGOs, and political groupings have come up with their response."

Fr Tabone said that "what policies (on immigration) to take up and implement in practice requires study and reflection. It is not easy to find ways to balance humanity, the national interest, and dialogue about our own and other countries' obligations as to human rights, burden-sharing and the safeguarding of our country's needs.

"Policy will have to focus on asylum-seeking processes, reception conditions, possibilities of repatriation, conditions in the countries of origin, and so forth." He added that the department hoped the course would provide an opportunity for reflection and training on how the caring role can be exercised in whatever the situation or stage the immigrants are while under Maltese responsibility, be it reception, detention, repatriation or settlement elsewhere, or living among us temporarily or for a longer period.

He explained: "Through the Masters, people practising social work or social policy will reflect and train on how policy and caring can be applied to migrants and the issues related to them. Taking care and relating to people in such new circumstances requires learning to tackle new challenges. What is striking about the practices that Prof. Wineburg presented in his courses is the big challenge they present to adapt their values and energy to the Maltese situation."

Throughout his various presentations Prof. Wineburg emphasised that he was sharing 'cameos' of good practice for participants to study understand and possibly adapt and adopt in the local setting.

Prof. Wineburg said that during the 1980s the US experienced a heavy influx of refugees from countries as varied as Vietnam, Russia, Bosnia, and Sudan. The federal government wanted to integrate these refugees into American society and decided to use non-profit organisations, including churches, to channel resources and deliver services aimed at resettling refugees. He added that "experience shows that 'non-profits' are always much more efficient at undertaking projects than government departments".

Regarding the issues of children and families, including domestic violence, Prof. Wineburg said: "Pressure for divorce was growing. Young people nowadays are not shocked at things that used to shock us in the past. For example, gay people are today getting married, even adopting children. Malta is inevitably going to pull apart more in future. You need to plan ahead for a different-look Malta."

During his courses in Malta he gave examples of 'best practice' in the US, such as 'front-loading' of services to try to nip problems such as child neglect and domestic assault before state intervention became necessary. In cases of child abuse, however, children were taken out of the home right away.

"Every time the state intervenes there is a tremendous cost and drain of resources," he said. He spoke of programmes run by NGOs that complemented the services and safety-nets that the state had to offer. This included, for example, setting up 'volunteer centres' to provide 'free labour' that could be tapped by NGOs that were aware of specific, short-term needs in the community.

Regarding domestic violence, Fr Tabone said: "Although some awareness of domestic violence exists within our society we still need to continue to work harder on this. It is of the utmost importance that social workers working in the field of children and families and other areas are aware of and are knowledgeable about domestic violence, hence the importance of including domestic violence in Prof. Wineburg's input. It is also important that those working in social policy are aware of the full consequences of domestic violence."

He said the department suspects that statistics of those who seek help, under-estimate those who actually experience violence. This was borne out by the upsurge of referrals to the domestic violence social work unit every time there is a publicity campaign.

He said that while compared to other European countries Malta has good direct services for women experiencing or escaping domestic violence, there is still more work to be done. For example, he said, "when a woman succeeds in breaking away from an abusive relationship, it is a huge step, but it is only the first of several others that she faces, such financial support, court delays, employment training, and housing."

He concluded: "The remedies would include increasing women's equality in society generally, increasing awareness of domestic violence, its consequences, and that it is never acceptable, and providing general services to improve the quality of life of those living with or escaping abusive relationships."