Fostering is a service provided for children who cannot be looked after by their own family for a long or short period of time. The reasons why a child is placed into foster care vary. There could be a situation where a family cannot keep the child for a while, or the child might have been mistreated and therefore was removed from the family by social workers.

Children benefit from foster care as they will experience family life, something that cannot be gained from institutional life. Mr and Mrs Cairns stressed that foster life is about more than being a parent – it is a therapeutic commitment to children who have been traumatised. Foster carers have to offer extra care, helping the child to adapt and to use the child’s own strengths and resources to overcome the impairment of not having his needs met.

Many children who go into foster care have had extremely traumatic experiences. To begin with, the actual move from the child’s home to a foster home is a traumatic experiences in itself. Foster care might be an extremely long process, requiring a great deal of patience and understanding from the carers. This is why training is an important part of foster care. Foster parents are able to recognise and tackle problems that arise or that the child may have.

If children have suffered an early adversity, they may be developmentally impaired or they may develop behavioural problems. Older children may be wetting and soiling themselves, while younger children might not be able to manage or recognise feelings in themselves and others. Their behaviour might be out of control, and make them difficult to live with. They might have a poor ability to manage stress, and this would be reflected in poor sleep patterns, eating difficulties and problems at school.

Both Brian and Kate said that it is certainly possible for the fostered child to overcome these difficulties and that the difficulties may strengthen their character. The ultimate aim of fostering is that these children grow up to live healthy lives as adults.

The Cairns started fostering in 1979, and they provided a permanent home to children they knew could not return to their families. Initially, the main reason why they went into fostering was that they wanted to live with a larger group of children than they wanted to produce. Kate admitted that at the time they had no idea of the problems and joys foster care brings. They had 15 children: 12 were foster children and three were their natural offspring.

At the moment, the eldest is 40 and the youngest sibling is 24. Brian pointed out that they purposely selected children whose ages varied to eliminate the rivalry that may arise between children of the same age.

Currently there are 131 foster families in Malta. There are another 90 families who are fostering their next-of-kin and another 12 families are being assessed by Appogg. Back in 1996, when fostering became the responsibility of Appogg, there were 25 families. Training takes place over six weeks, covering a total of 24 hours. During this period, the families are assessed to see what type of child is suitable for assignment with them. There are 85 children who are waiting to be placed in foster homes, but Appogg are unable to place them as there are no places. Foster families in Malta are not paid, but are given an allowance of Lm11 a week.

There is a lack of social workers in the field. Ideally, each foster child and family should be assigned a social worker to provide support and help. However, due to the shortage of workers, and the heavy case-load they have, the families might not have the full attention and help they need.

Foster carers need continual support and training to understand the child’s problems and how to approach them. Through training, the parents become aware that they are not the cause of the problems, which helps to reduce the feeling of confusion and guilt.