Eight newborn babies were placed directly into foster care this year as their parents were not fit to look after them, but 70 children remain in institutions waiting for a home.

“We really need more foster carers. We know of babies who are soon to be born and who will end up in an institution since their parents cannot raise them,” explained John Rolé from Appoġġ Agency’s fostering services.

Social Policy Minister Dolores Cristina said that since fostering started in Malta in 1996 the number of foster parents has been on the increase.

A total of 26 children were fostered 14 years ago. The figure has slowly risen and reached 193 children by October this year. Of these, 72 were being fostered by relatives, Ms Cristina said.

The figures emerged during an educational conference at the Dolmen Hotel in Qawra for a group of foster carers.

Joseph*, 11, joined Mr Rolé’s appeal for couples to become foster carers.

“They should not be scared to become foster carers... My foster parents changed my life. They helped me a lot. Had it not been for them, I’d probably still be at the crèche,” the young boy told The Sunday Times.

Joseph explained he had been living with this foster family for eight years and felt like part of the family. He was still in contact with his natural parents and this did not bother him.

Mr Rolé went on to explain that fostering a child was a very rewarding experience and carers were trained and supported before and throughout their fostering experience.

Several foster parents present for the conference agreed with him. “A child’s place is in a family, not an institution,” one mother said.

She explained that she had a 15-year-old son of her own but six years ago the family decided to provide a home for two children.

They are now fostering a seven-year-old boy and five-year-old girl – though they remain in regular contact with the boy’s parents.

Another woman, who has been fostering a four-year-old boy since he was a baby, would love to be able to adopt him. The child never met his parents.

“He asks why he has a different surname to us,” she said, adding that she feared his parents would turn up one day and take him back.

The mothers agreed more awareness about fostering was required in schools. One boy was teased at school by children who told him his real mother had abandoned him, his foster mother said.

Earlier this year, former Children’s Commissioner Carmen Zammit and Ms Cristina said that children who had no hope of ever being reunited with their natural parents should be put up for adoption because they had a right to live within a family.

Ms Cristina had said she wanted to see the courts exercise their right to remove parental rights more often and put children up for adoption.

* Name has been changed to protect the child’s identity