Family and Social Solidarity Minister Michael Farrugia said today that the seven year-old boy who was forced to engage with two prostitutes by his father is now protected and under the care of Agenzija Appogg in an undisclosed location. Both of his parents signed the documents for his immediate care.

Dr Farrugia hit out against any claims that care orders were taking longer than usual as was reported by sections of local media. All procedures happened according to protocol as soon as Appogg heard of the case from the police.

The Minister was also very harsh in condemning statements by the Association of Foster Carers. “They need to stay within their remit and they can't try to tell the professionals how to do their job,” Dr Farrugia said.

It is unfortunate that the police interviewed the child without any social worker present, said Dr Farrugia, as he personally believes that cases like these necessarily require a care worker to be present to make sure that the child is protected at all times.

The Minister also spoke of the Child Protection Bill which will be discussed in Parliament next week making necessary changes to the current system of child protection. This includes transferring care order responsibilities from the Ministry to the Courts to ensure maximum resources in terms of investigation and legal procedures.

Due to this transfer in remit, then the court can also order permanence in care orders. This, according to the Minister, “is the amber light for adoption.”

The Minister also said that this is a revamping of current child protection legislation in Malta and the government, whichever administration it was, has always had the protection of the child at heart. “Everyone who gave the impression that we didn’t have laws is condemning every preceding administration.”

“I want to condemn all irresponsible statements in the media and in Parliament which give the impression that children were not protected,” the Minister said.

The CEO of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services, Alfred Grixti confirmed that Dr Farrugia at no point and in any way gave him orders to slow down the process of care orders. Mr Grixti said that Agenzija Appogg gets between 800–1,000 reports regarding child protection every year and every single one is investigate thoroughly. Between 20 and 40 care orders are usually signed by the Minister annually.

He insisted that the stigma that Appogg simply takes children from families needs to be done away with as the agency’s main goal is to strengthen families, rather than separating them. In fact, one of the critiques which he would agree with is that, at times, social workers spend too much time with families to ensure that the child is safe.

In extreme cases such as sexual abuse or when the family simply refuses to cooperate, then the child must be removed from the family for their own sake and, under certain circumstances, the Agency must act immediately.

Mr Grixti explained that it is a ‘misnomer’ that the Minister releases the care order himself, he only signs the final order once all necessary investigations and reports are done.

Operations Director of Agenzija Appogg, Ruth Sciberras, went into further detail about the current ongoing case. The police had contacted the agency on Thursday after having picked up the child from school and questioned him about the report. This, according to Mr Grixti, is not standard practice.

Ms Sciberras said that there are certain details about which the child hasn’t yet told the social workers, but that they are being given by the police based on the police report. There was insistence from Appogg with the police to have the Court issue an emergency care order, but this did not happen so the pressure was on Appogg to release their own care order as soon as possible.

Both parents were contacted and signed the boy over to protective care with the agency. It was determined that the father is obviously not permitted to speak to his son as he is in prison and the mother doesn’t actually have custody of her son. That being said, they still have parental rights and were contacted according to protocol.

Ms Sciberras insisted that their focus is the protection of the child, apart from also being legally covered. Then depending on the case, once all details are verified, they will decide whether a care order or a protection order is issued. 

The PN reacted to the allegations made by Inspector John Spiteri in court regarding the care order not being granted for the 7 year-old child under ‘Ministerial directions’ saying that the allegations have serious consequences.

In their statement following this afternoon’s press conference, the PN said that the declarations by Minister Farrugia are not remotely enough to give peace of mind to families or social workers in the sector. Dr Farrugia’s attack on the Police was not enough.

The PN have given their support to the statements released by both the Maltese Association of Social Workers and the National Foster Care Association Malta which insisted that the government shouldn’t interfere in the sector and to allow professionals to do their job unhindered and autonomously.

According to the statement, the Prime Minister received private correspondence about the case, but it seems to have fallen on deaf ears as the only reaction from the government was an attack on the Police. The PN insisted that the government starts treating this subject seriously and children’s interests as their main priority.