Apart from welcoming children for adoption from foreign shores, Malta should also look at Maltese children who were eligible yet kept back from being adopted, according to a social welfare expert.
Following Thursday’s announcement of the draft law on children in out-of-home care, Foundation for Social Welfare Services chairman Joe Gerada said the next step was to strengthen the adoption framework to cater for eligible Maltese children who were being hindered due to the authorities’ lack of action and unnecessary delays.
It’s all about finding a balance
“I’m not saying these cases run into hundreds, but they do exist,” Mr Gerada told Times of Malta.
“The process needs to be facilitated. Children should be raised by their parents – but if this fails and there is no hope of improvement, then the children should have the right and opportunity to have a family. It’s all about finding a balance between helping and giving a chance to the biological family and ensuring that the children have a stable family.”
According to the draft law, permanent foster care will be introduced and children living in homes will be freed for adoption in specific cases.
Permanent fostering, Mr Gerada explained, was less hassle for foster carers and provided more tranquility for the children. As things currently stand, foster carers need the biological parents’ consent for a string of occasions, such as hospital visits and going abroad.
Mr Gerada noted an attitude shift in recent years, with more weight being given to children’s opinions and wishes.
“Obviously, the age of the child needs to be taken into consideration – the wishes and opinion of a 10-year-old, for instance, would carry a lot of weight in comparison to, say, a five-year-old.”
He also lauded the proposal of transferring the issuing of care orders, currently the responsibility of the Family Ministry, to the law courts.
“This is an important development. The courts are in a better position to make such decisions. The role of politicians is to legislate rather than judge individual cases.”
He described this first chapter in the long-awaited Children’s Act as a milestone in the progression of children’s rights and an exercise in democracy. The Act would unite fragmented legislation and create consistency in issues such as adoption and care orders .
Jason Zerafa, president of the National Foster Care Association – which formed part of the task force set up for drafting proposals – was glad to note that the association’s proposals were taken on board.
“Current legislation favours adults and not children. The permanent fostering proposal imparts stability. Children would return if the natural family convinced the authorities that it was fit to take back them back.”