Conference on out-of-home care

St Patrick's Salesian school will be holding a conference to explore the challenges that out-of-home care poses for children.

Out-of-home care, which includes foster care, residential care and therapeutic residential care, is one of the methods used by the school to care for children.

St Patrick's, run by the Salesians of Don Bosco in Malta, provides secondary school education for 72 boys and a residential service for 35 of them.

A support services team also provides the children with professional therapeutic services.

The conference, entitled Where Is Home?, will be held between March 12 and 14 at the Hilton, St Julians. It will be preceded by a pre-conference workshop, themed Learn The Child, on exploring strategies and interventions for educators and carers on how to best support looked-after children in their learning.

The conference will be open to social workers, care workers, foster carers, educators, therapists, psychologists, counsellors, academics, students and international participants. It is being held in collaboration with the Commissioner for Children.

www.whereishomeconference.org