A 13-year-old toothless girl from a troubled family had to wait for a year-and-a-half for the government's social structures to conclude that no one could provide her with teeth.

The teenager was eventually provided with a set of teeth when a private dentist stepped in voluntarily and the girl could finally smile, Jean Paul Mifsud from YMCA Homeless Malta said this morning.

He was giving an example of the need for services to be given in a timely manner as "some kids have immediate issues".

Mr Mifsud was speaking during a conference entitled The Disadvantaged Child: Problems and Solutions, organised by YMCA Homeless and Celebrities for Kids.

He questioned why children were being placed on waiting lists and stressed the importance of having services that immediately targeted the individual needs of children.

Mr Mifsud pointed out that various people who attended the conference listed the same concerns in a form they were asked to fill in. These included the lack of a Children's Act, severe lack of placements, bureaucracy, and the need for more cooperation between stakeholders.

He criticised the fact that lack of resources was leading to children with mental health problems being detained in adult wards and noted that a 16-year-old girl was kept in solitary confinement in prison last year.

Chris Fearne, from Celebrities for Kids, said that as a surgeon who works with children, he saw a number of cases of child abuse. He spoke about cases of babies with dislocated shoulders, cigarette burns and head injuries.

Unfortunately, he said, he still saw such cases. Over the past years he realised that there were several structural problems that led to these problems.

Social workers told him that care orders were being carried out when the case reached an extreme level as the government had no place where to keep these children.

"Once taken away from the dangerous situation at home, we are still not giving these children what they need," Dr Fearne said as he gave the example of a 15-year-old girl who lived alone.

Disadvantaged children, he stressed, were not just those who were abused and neglected but also those who had physical or mental health issues or learning problems.

There was a need for more personalised care and more resources and funds to be invested in social services.

Family Minister Chris Said said the ministry started an internal consultation process to amend the adoption law to allow more children to be put up for adoption.

At the moment, he said, the adoption system was strict and the aim was to allow more children to be granted the opportunity to live in a family environment

In January, the government introduced a 16-week adoption leave entitlement for people who worked in the public sector. This would increase to 18 weeks next year to come in line with maternity leave.

Dr Said said he would soon start discussions with the social partners to introduce the adoption leave entitlement in the private sector.

He thanked all voluntary organisations who worked for the benefit of children.

NGOs did not work in a vacuum but with structures set up by the government. Services complemented each other and the voluntary and public sectors had to work together, he said.

He said the government was committed to work to try and meet the needs of children who needed such services.

Last November, a draft of the Children's Policy was launched to improve quality of life. It would be reviewed once the consultation period was over. The government would then launch an action plan to implement it.

The plan would include offering services for young women who currently ended up at Mount Carmel Hospital for lack of better services.

He said Access would be setting up home in Birzebbugia to cater for children with behavioural problems and take in some children currently kept at Mount Carmel Hospital's young person's unit.