A Northern Irish mother in a custody battle with her Maltese ex-husband was outraged when social services forced her to pay to see her child.
The court recently granted the woman eight hours of supervised access visits per week with her 10-year-old son.
But she was shocked when told she would have to pay Appoġġ €7.50 per hour for providing supervision after four hours.
“I can’t believe they forced me to pay €30 a week to see my own flesh and blood,” said the woman, who is not being named to protect her son’s identity.
“I raised my child on my own for most of his life and now they treat me like a criminal.”
She also questioned the amount she was charged: “I would be very surprised if social workers were being paid €7.50 per hour. I can afford to pay it but there are lots of people on minimum wage jobs that would struggle.”
Supervised access visits usually involve parents going through separation or children under care orders.
Appoġġ confirmed parents ordered by the court to have access visits supervised would be provided with free supervision for four hours per week, but had to pay €7.50 for every hour afterwards. The policy was introduced in 2004.
“It is in place so that the agency can guarantee a minimum number of hours of access visits to those referred to the service. The fee factors in the costs incurred for the service provision, including necessary administrative costs,” Appoġġ said.
Visits are supervised by trained personnel specifically selected and coordinated by Appoġġ, the agency added.
It may provide additional hours at its own expense in “exceptional cases and upon conducting an assessment”.
It pointed out that the vast majority of supervised access visits granted to parents did not exceed four hours per week.
For children under care orders requiring supervised access visits, Appoġġ said additional hours recommended and approved by the Children and Young Persons’ Advisory Board were funded by that board.
Asked about the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s recent concerns about the number of social workers in Malta, Appoġġ said it deals with requests professionally and using the resources at hand.
“Having additional resources would help social workers dedicate more time in their interventions with children and youngpeople,” it said.
Lawyer Veronique Dalli said if a court ordered visits had to be supervised, the costs should be covered by the State.
She said making a parent pay to see their child breaches the fundamental human rights of both.
“The child has a human right to see both parents, including the non-custodial one. And a parent has the right to enjoy their family life – they should not have to pay to see their child,” she said.