Agenzija Appoġġ is part of the Government’s Foundation for Social Services. It is the central national agency for children and families in need, a regrettably growing cohort of Maltese society as economic pressures increase and changes in the nature of Maltese family life take their toll.
Appoġġ is ably led and supported by a competent staff of social workers. It deals with a heavy annual caseload and is known, like many other such organisations, to be short-staffed.
It is an agency that rarely seeks the limelight, but instead works effectively behind the scenes.
Indeed, the nature of its work demands that what it does is carried out confidentially, discreetly and in the most sensitive manner. Except when it is thrust into the limelight by some unexpected event, as has happened recently.
A woman has filed a judicial protest against Appoġġ, pleading for the return of her nine-year-old son who was placed under a care order – a step only taken by Appoġġ “when absolutely necessary and after proper investigation”.
She has disputed the decisions taken along the way to place her son into a Home. Her son has tried several times to commit suicide, for which he is receiving psychiatric treatment. In her judicial protest the woman called on Appoġġ and the Minister for Family Affairs to lift the care order immediately and to return her son to her home.
In its public response, Appoġġ has correctly said that the agency was obliged to protect the strict confidentiality of its clients and therefore it was unable to comment on specific, individual cases.
However, it set out the comprehensive steps that are taken by the agency in the procedures it follows to ensure that the paramount interests of the child are always taken into account. The care order is issued only after the most rigorous investigations, Appoġġ explained, and “each decision is taken in the best interests of the minor [concerned]”.
The process for regulating care orders is laid down under Maltese law and parents of the child may appeal against any such decision in the Juvenile Court.
The parents’ views may also be heard at the Child Protection Case Conference when the reasons for the decision for the issue of a care order are explained. Moreover, each case is reviewed every six months, where the professionals involved evaluate the position and propose a care plan for the child to the Children and Young Persons’ Advisory Board.
This board is independent of Appoġġ and is established by law. Again, the parents are involved in the process and they are at liberty to meet the board to voice their views on the care plan drawn up. The board then evaluates the plan and forwards its recommendations to the Minister for approval. It is finally implemented only after the process and evaluations has been completed.
The system is designed to be as transparent, comprehensive, fair and compassionate as possible. It has the protection and interests of the child at the centre of each decision. Nevertheless, it is a process which is run by human beings, who are themselves fallible.
While it would be improper to pass any comment on the rights or wrongs of this particular case, what its exposure to public scrutiny has done is to shine a searchlight on an area of policy which, notwithstanding the outcome in this case, shows the merits of having a well-grounded system to handle such difficult and sometimes heartbreaking human stories.