The HSBC Cares For Children Fund has extended its support to Appogg and is now also sponsoring the agency's fostering service. Doriette Camilleri, a member of the HSBC Cares for Children Fund, presented the new sponsorship to John Rolè, area service leader at the foster care unit within Appogg.

Appogg offers a number of different fostering services ranging from respite or emergency fostering to intermediate and permanent fostering, which can also develop to adoption. These different services cater for a variety of situations arising from family crises such as marital break ups, illness, poverty, alcohol or drug-related problems and even child abuse.

"Appogg has developed a full range of fostering services to help both parents and children who are facing serious difficulties in their family life. The service requires dedication both from social workers and from foster parents who need to be trained to deal with the possible problems that frequently arise. Making sure the service is effective requires substantial funding and the HSBC Cares for Children Fund is naturally giving its support to help the children affected," said Ms Camilleri.

The support being given by HSBC Cares for Children Fund to the fostering service of Appogg follows a donation of Lm1,000 by the fund to the agency to support the running of Smartkids, a child-care centre for underprivileged infants from Cottonera.

Appogg was first launched in 1994 as the Programme for Social Work. Over the years the services offered by this agency have grown considerably and apart from offering professional support services to children it also offers social assistance to many different groups.