Probes into unknown fathers

The setting up of a think-tank to focus on the growing trend of teen pregnancy and births outside marriage was yesterday proposed by Social Policy Minister John Dalli.

The “alarming” phenomenon – 53 per cent of fathers to children of under-20-year-olds are registered as unknown – remained his greatest concern.

“We are aware that it cannot disappear alone, and especially in the case of teenage mothers, the situation is particularly worrying,” he told the Doha Colloquium on Strengthening Marriage and Supporting Families.

In a bid to get to the bottom of it, Mr Dalli said it was high time parents in non-marital births, registering an unknown father, were “interviewed to get to know them better”.

He questioned whether the phenomenon resulted from cohabiting families wanting to cash in on an extra monetary allowance, or whether the situation was more complex. Rising at an alarming rate, one in every four births was to mothers under 20; another 30 per cent were from those between 20 and 24, with 39 per cent unknown fathers registered; while the percentage decreased to around 24 per cent for mothers between 25 and 34.

Mr Dalli said it was important to learn first-hand, through the interviews, how to support them.

He highlighted the two opposing trends related to men: while more emphasis was being placed on the importance of fatherhood and their involvement in bringing up their children, the increase in non-marital births, registered as father unknown, pulled in the opposite direction.

Mr Dalli was delivering the opening speech on the second day of the colloquium, organised by the Cana Movement in collaboration with the Centre for Family Studies and funded by the Doha Institute for Family Studies.

He said that the only two family therapy services in the public sector were not enough and could not cope with the increasing demand due to the lack of trained therapists.

Until recently, professional training was only possible overseas, but the Centre for Family Studies should be launching courses by the next academic year, he said.

Healthy marriages and the family were a non-partisan issue because both the government and the Labour Party believed in their importance, he continued.

From a family policy perspective, strengthening marriage, rather than simply not tolerating violence, remained an important objective: the association between marital discord, depression and drinking was strong and the effects on children huge, the minister said. Being brought up in a single-parent family doubled their chances of living in poverty.

Although the rate of separated couples was low (5.65 per cent in the 2005 census) when compared to other countries, it was still cause for concern, he said.

Praising the Cana Movement and encouraging it to audit its work with couples, Mr Dalli said preventive action was the best policy initiative and insisted on addressing the small percentage of couples who did not attend premarital courses. Those in distress during their relationship also needed government support, he said.

Mr Dalli encouraged cooperation with other departments and the improvement of the use of resources in schools to minimise the chances of teenagers engaging in risky sexual behaviour.

“We also need to help parents learn how to talk about sexual relationships with their children, rather than avoiding the subject, or resorting to warnings and threats,” he said.

The Centre for Family Studies was hoping for the necessary funding in the upcoming budget to be able to move from the planning to the implementation phase of its projects, said its director Angela Abela.

It was considering starting a parenting programme for those making the transition from partners to parents, she said.

Closing the colloquium, Cana Movement director Fr Joe Mizzi suggested promoting the “beauty of family life” through all forms of media, as well as yearly celebrations and festivals in favour of the family.

He appealed to the State to develop sound family policies that would “define and defend the family as a natural institution” and insisted on the introduction of prayer between husbands and wives.

Fr Mizzi also suggested forming support organisations in areas, devoted to strengthening marriage.