Fr Joe Borg, who teaches communication studies at the University of Malta, while reflecting in the press on the divorce debate, said that “..we should use this situation to emphasise more the value of the family and search for new ways to strengthen the family.”
Martin Scicluna, director general of the Today Public Policy Institute, though a leading proponent of urgent divorce legislation, has lately called marriage “the bedrock of our civilisation” and committed himself to write more on “extolling the need for ensuring stable marriages”.
Justice Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici said recently that 592 couples who initiated separation proceedings in the past seven years since the introduction of mediation services had reconciled or otherwise withdrawn or abandoned the proceedings. He added that, in the same period, 5,674 couples had filed for personal separation, of whom 2,861 reached an amicable agreement after mediation.
These figures do not really show how many couples who were helped by mediators eventually reconciled their differences and restored a good marriage relationship. Nor how many were helped to just reach an amicable settlement of their “assets”, including their children, when separating for good.
In his speech The Family In The Dock – The Maltese Experience at the International Conference on the Family held in Buġibba on March 12, outgoing Chief Justice Vincent Degaetano said: “As to mediation, while the statistics show it is a useful tool to reach separation by mutual consent, it yet remains to be seen whether more can be done at this stage to effect reconciliation between the spouses. Perhaps some sort of quality assurance should be undertaken of the mediation process to find out whether this goal of reconciliation is being properly approached by the mediators and what can be done to possibly improve the rate of reconciliations.”
Lately, Nationalist MP Edwin Vassallo, chairman of the Social Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives criticised the increasing costs incurred by spouses who initiate separation proceedings. He said mediation was no longer reaching its aim of assisting spouses to re-establish their relationship because it was often too late for this when they were seen by mediators. The House Social Affairs Committee was told that children were often seen as assets, with mediators being limited to help the parents divide their assets.
I am not aware there have been developments to revamp the mediation system as suggested by Dr Degaetano.
On the other hand, it was reported in the press that Charlie Azzopardi, a family therapist, “has seen couples making up, quarrelling, trying to repair relationships or forgive infidelity – and breaking up”. When reflecting on “why some relationships succeed, while others fail”, Dr Azzopardi noted that “most couples get married with false expectations”.
Dr Azzopardi acknowledged, however, that “...people are looking for more services such as family therapists..” and then suggested that the “government needs to provide more support throughout the family lifecycle”.
Gozo Bishop Mario Grech, as a civil society leader, has already shown the way by revamping marriage counselling, family therapy and psychotherapy services in the Gozo diocese. This is a very good development indeed. Further development by the government in this field, in Maltese society and, particularly, in the Family Court, is the next step forward.