A lobby group seeking the introduction of a permanent fostering system is unwilling to give children their rights, according to the Family and Social Solidarity Minister.
Referring to the long-awaited Child Out-of-Home-Care Protection Bill, Michael Farrugia (pictured above) said he was still mulling the inclusion of permanent fostering in the Bill, which, he said, should be through “by the end of the year”.
“I have no problem with permanent fostering as long as it’s not à la carte. I want many things in life but I cannot always pick and choose,” Dr Farrugia said.
Permanent fostering, which would remove the uncertainties faced by foster carers and foster children, was included in the Bill that was given a first reading in Parliament in March 2014 by President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca when she served as social policy minister. It has since been put on ‘pause’ because it is being “simplified”.
“It is a very delicate law. We are talking about children here. If there is a delicate law, this is it,” Dr Farrugia said.
Fostering is a way of providing a stable family life for children and young people unable to live with their parents at some point in time. It allows children the chance to thrive in a safe, secure, loving and caring home environment with foster carers.
Dr Farrugia said children living in out-of-home care with foster parents on a permanent basis should have rights such as inheritance but “that is just what foster carers do not want”.
“You want your rights, you have your obligations,” he stressed, noting that he receives as many e-mails from foster parents as he gets from natural ones.
“I do not want foster parents who do everything in their power to stop the children from visiting their natural parents,” he said, saying there were cases of foster carers producing medical certificates so the children would not meet their biological parents.
When it was pointed out that foster parents could fear that meeting the natural parents could, at times, upset the children, he commented: “That is what you think… what you think is one thing and reality is another.”
He said some carers were given the option to adopt the children they were fostering but they refused. “Why? Because they would lose certain rights. They refuse adoption but they want permanent fostering. I leave it up to your imagination. It’s very easy to draw a conclusion.”
I do not want foster parents who do everything in their power to stop the children from visiting their natural parents
According to the National Foster Care Association Malta, foster carers are paid €10 a day per child. The carers, it said, spent thousands of euros beyond what they were given, sending the children to ballet and football classes, taking them on holiday, paying medical bills and purchasing school uniforms, books and resources.
Dr Farrugia said he was putting something else “on the table open adoption. “If you want the fostered children to become permanently yours, then you have to go for open adoption,” he said. Open adoption means the child has free access to natural parents as recommended by the adoption board. It is a system that already exists but is not used a lot. He believes it could be a solution to the impasse in the adoption of Maltese children.
“It could be that many Maltese biological parents are willing to give up their offspring for adoption but they hold back out of fear that they won’t see them again. So, in this manner, we would be putting the biological parents’ mind at rest that they will still have access to them,” Dr Farrugia said.
The Bill, he added, would definitely include four out-of-home-care options: fostering, long-term fostering, adoptions and open adoptions. He is considering including the fifth option of permanent fostering but is wary.
“Permanent is permanent,” he pointed out. He mentions an example where the foster carers are going through separation.
“The children are going through the trauma of domestic violence and everything. This when you took them away from a house that was not ideal and placed them in a family which should be better for them.”
Many countries opted for long-term rather than permanent fostering. That, he said, would mean regular biannual assessments.
“We have to ensure that children are well cared for. If there is a form of neglect under permanent fostering what do I do? Once they are out of home the State has some responsibilities towards children, so there should always be a follow-up.”
No need of “witch hunts”, he quickly added, but merely a matter of “a few simple questions”. “You go in and you go out but if someone wants to say something then you’re giving them the opportunity,” he said.
Soon, Dr Farrugia said, a fostering and adoption agency would be set up as a separate entity from Appoġġ which is responsible for both. “Hopefully, these agencies will relieve me of some of the pressure.”