Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's apology to hundreds of thousands of former child migrants for abuse and neglect in state homes half a century ago was a disturbing reminder of the dark side of institutional care.
The horrible things that happened are an example of the extreme, lying at the opposite end of the loving attention that is more typically shown to children in institutions. In Malta, the Church has led the way in providing alternative places to nurture thousands of unfortunate youngsters who, over the years, have needed to be separated from their family of origin.
Yet, the institutional setting is now looked upon as being far from the ideal place to bring up children, having proven to be less than beneficial for their physical, psychological and social development. Consequently, many countries in the Western world have been moving well away from this model of care, throwing more resources into prevention and into placing children with substitute families or, at least, in small family-style units.
This seems to be precisely the de-institutionalisation process that the government has embarked upon when it recently announced a 10-year strategy for the sector. The underlying principle of the strategy is that children should be away from their family for the shortest time possible, if they really do need to go into care for their welfare and protection, and that they should go to a foster family or a high-quality, small-scale residence where they could lead as normal a life as possible. If necessary, the government, which has the duty to provide alternative care, could fund services now offered by the NGO sector. Children would be put up at an emergency centre for a short period and assessed before placement to an appropriate setting from a range available. Individual cases would be followed up once back with their own families.
In a speech launching the strategy document and two others on standards of care and model procedures, Social Policy Minister John Dalli gave a strong commitment of government support for all that may be needed to fulfil the requirements of the three documents and acknowledged that more funding had to be allocated if this were to happen.
A few days later, in the Budget speech, the government seemed to be putting its money where its mouth is by raising substantially the allowance granted for each of the 400 children in residential or foster care, from €40 per week to €70. That amount may still seem a pittance for a growing child's needs (Australia, for example, funds families to the tune of hundreds of euros a week for fostering) but it signals that the area is of high priority for the government, especially with a Budget that was austere elsewhere.
One hopes the momentum is kept up as this is just the beginning of the process. There are plans, for example, for a fledgling prevention service in Cospicua and Valletta to be extended to other communities so that social workers operating close to families would be in a better position to help them avoid breaking apart. The care of adolescent girls provided by the massive Vincenzo Bugeja Institute is meant to be reformed. And an urgent task is to provide for girls who need to go into a secure facility, instead of sending them to prison or Mount Carmel Hospital.
The government is to be applauded for taking the first important steps towards giving "homeless" children a more family-oriented care - as it is their right to receive.