The police and child protection services are looking into the case of six children who were reportedly found living on their own in horrid conditions, the Times of Malta is informed.

The case, according to the Family Ministry, was the “desperate” result of social and personal pressures afflicting a family that had no resources.

Their next of kin abandoned the children, aged five to 15, after their father died.

They were living in the family home, with the eldest child acting the part of mother to her siblings, according to MaltaToday.

The newspaper reported that social workers had been working on the case for weeks and the children had since been placed with a number of respite foster carers until arrangements could be made for their long-term care as a family unit.

Members of the deceased father’s first family reportedly forced the children’s mother out of the home.

Their next of kin abandoned the children after their father died

When contacted by the Times of Malta, a spokeswoman for the Family Ministry said child protection services were “thoroughly involved” in the matter. All efforts were being made to secure the safest, most adequate placement under the circumstances.

In accordance with child safety policies, the social workers strove to offer stable nurturing placements that keep siblings together whenever possible, and this was true in the case of these children, the spokeswoman explained.

“Child protection services received the support of the family in trying to resolve the issue, which can only be described as a desperate conclusion of social and personal stressors that have afflicted a family that had no resources to deal with these circumstances,” she said.

The spokeswoman confirmed that their mother had voluntarily signed papers for the siblings to be put into care.

Child protection services and the police were working together on the case to ensure the well-being of the children was given top priority, the spokeswoman pointed out.

This year, Appoġġ launched a campaign urging people to take up fostering, as data showed that only half of the children in out-of-home care were fostered.

At the end of last year, 208 foster carers were fostering 230 out of a total of 480 children who were no longer living with their biological parents.

The number of new carers, which reached a low of seven in 2016, increased to 39 last year, but more were needed, said the CEO of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services, Alfred Grixti.

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