Photo: Jonathan Borg

Assess the State’s success in caring for children in out-of-home care and address any shortcomings, the President urged stakeholders this morning.

“All children are entitled to the very best possible care. We must therefore act on our legal, ethical, and social obligations, to meet the diverse, complex, and human needs of each and every child,” Marie Louise Coleiro Preca told those present for an international conference about children in out-of-home care, held at the President’s Palace in Valletta.

“I believe that we have an obligation to effectively evaluate the State’s success as a parent, and to address any shortcomings, in a timely and efficient manner.”
Called Setting Sail from a Safe Port, this is the President’s Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society’s third child wellbeing conference.

Read: Children in out-of-home care are being short-changed, expert warns

It is being held in collaboration with the International Foster Care Organisation, and the partners include the National Foster Care Association Malta, the Foundation for Social Welfare Services and Eurochild.

Recalling her experience as a Family Minister as well as her encounters with children and their families, she noted that listening to the voices of children was imperative.

Children had the ability to tell their stories in the most clear of ways, and being heard was their ultimate right.

“Let me encourage you to be champions of children’s rights, guardians of their best interests, and advocates for their holistic wellbeing.

“We cannot stand idle, when so many children and young people are getting lost in the labyrinths of institutional structures and formal systems,” the President said.

The conference was a reminder to those in positions of influence that policy decisions and casework choices had life-altering effects on children and their families

Ms Coleiro Preca called on the stakeholders to be vociferous by pushing policies and initiatives that supported high quality out-of-home care.

She noted that the interest shown in the conference was a reminder to those in positions of influence that policy decisions and casework choices had life-altering effects on children and their families.

The attendance of a large number of foster carers and residential care workers was meanwhile an indication of the united commitment to change the status quo, and replace it with a better, more nurturing, and more child-focused vision of care, the President added.