A nine-year-old boy has made several attempts to commit suicide after being placed under a care order a year ago, the child’s mother claimed in a judicial protest holding the authorities responsible.
The woman, who is not being named to protect the identity of the boy, said she had been left “emotionally destroyed” after he was taken away from her because she was too afraid of her former partner to leave her home to collect the child from school.
At the time of this “one-off” incident, the mother claimed, she was the victim of serious threats from the boy’s father and yet no assistance was given to her and her son was taken away.
She was then given only supervised infrequent access to her son.
The woman filed the protest against Family Minister Chris Said and the State support agency Aġenzija Appoġġ which is looking after the boy.
The mother said that since the incident she had managed to overcome her problems and entered into a stable relationship.
However, the agency still refused to lift the care order on the pretext that the boy would then be living with her and her partner when she was not married.
She said the boy was living with foster parents who were themselves unmarried.
While the foster parents and the home where he resided tried to help the boy with his anxiety and desperate sadness, he had reached the point of trying to commit suicide several times and was receiving psychiatric help.
Recently, the woman added, a meeting was held with Appoġġ with a view to having the boy returned to her, but the agency then decided otherwise on the strength of an anonymous phone call.
The woman said she had challenged Appoġġ to investigate the phone call, which, she said, was made with the intention of discrediting her. But no investigation was carried out and instead, her access to the boy was further reduced.
She said she had threatened the agency with legal action and had been told that any action would result in complete lack of access to her son.
The woman demanded that the care order be lifted immediately and held the minster and the agency responsible for any damages.
Lawyer Stefano Filletti filed the judicial protest.