Child protection experts are working on putting together a draft national policy aimed at improving the services offered to children.
Once completed, following a series of workshops involving the major stakeholders, including children, the draft policy will be presented to the government. It will contain recommendations to improve child protection services and identify key issues that ought to be tackled.
The draft policy forms part of a project commissioned and funded by the Commonwealth Secretariat in collaboration with the government's social support agency Appoġġ.
"As in other countries, Malta's most pressing issue is the need for more resources," explained James Blewett who chaired a series of workshops held a few days ago.
"In the UK, over the past years, child protection policy has been driven by fear and things going terribly wrong, such as the death of a child. Malta is not driven by fear or professional anxiety but by aspiration and dedication of staff.
"It would be a shame if that aspiration faltered in any way because there are not enough resources to keep up that momentum," said Mr Blewett from London's King's College social care workforce research unit.
He said he was pleased to see there had been a rapid development in Malta's child services and was particularly glad to see an increase in fostering. The challenge now was to extend fostering to reach teenagers and disabled children.
A social worker for the past 25 years, Mr Blewett explained that one of the keys to an efficient child protection service was the early identification of potentially vulnerable children and their families.
This required flexible and sensitive child protection services that allowed for the targeting of support where needed.
Secondly, he added, an efficient system ensured accessible methods of reporting and investigating abuse.
"It's critical that child protection is not seen as the job of one agency. A child protection strategy is much wider. It's about how agencies collaborate together and whether there are clear protocols to ensure they work together," Mr Blewett said.
For example, there had to be efficient collaboration between schools and those who worked with people with substance abuse or mental health problems - all areas were children at risk could be identified.
"Child protection is not only about saving a child who is being abused but involves protection from the internet, protecting their childhood and so much more. It's a broader process that covers all aspects of children's lives.
"Reasons why children are at risk can be sensitive and different. Children can be at risk because their parents have other overwhelming pressures in their lives. Addressing the adult's stresses therefore tackles the child at risk.
"After all a person can have good parenting skills but have an addiction," he said.
The drafting of the national policy forms part of a bigger project being implemented in three phases, starting with a comparative study of national and international laws in relation to children.
The second phase, which was completed last week, involved the workshops during which stakeholders in child protection discussed key issues.
The final stage will take place this week when the topic of children and the law courts are discussed in detail. Once all three phases are complete, the draft policy will be drawn up.
Commonwealth representative Adeyemi Ogunmefun explained that the aim of the project was to ensure that Malta developed a system that was efficient and produced results through collaboration by stakeholders.
"After all, let's not forget that today's children are tomorrow's commissioners and leaders... we will be entrusting them with our pensions, bank accounts and our future," he said.