Parliament on Wednesday unanimously approved the second reading of the Foster Care Bill, and moved it onto the committee stage for further fine-tuning.

Tony Abela, Parliamentary Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, highlighted the differences between fostering and adoption, saying that while adoption is a legal permanent status, fostering is the placement of a child with a family and the taking away of this child later on.

Notary Abela spoke about the plight of a girl, who was living with her foster parents for many years in a good and beneficial environment, and who was taken back to her mother, who put her through things she would not have dreamt of with her foster parents, only to end up in drugs and a lifetime’s worth of psychological problems.

“Each case is sui generis; every case needs a flexibility of regulations. I would like to ask that the parliament consider this aspect, in that each case is considered with its particularities and the child’s best interest is taken to heart,” Notary Abela said.

MLP whip Joe Mizzi said that children are put into foster care because their families maltreat them, or do not feed them properly. Continuing along the lines his colleague spoke of, he felt that situations of this sort need to be looked into seriously, in that one cannot be prejudiced as to whether to allow the children to go back to their natural parents or not. “We need to move with caution and in the best interest of the child.”

Michael Asciak, Nationalist MP, spoke of fostering as a “saving situation.” He however did speak of the factors that de-motivated foster carers, one of which being that they might not know how to handle the children’s psychological problems. Another is the fact that these children may be taken away from the foster family, after they take care of them with love and affection. “Foster parents have no rights over the child, nor any say in what happens to them.” In doing so, he felt that foster carers should be given “training” courses before and during their period of fostering.

In explaining the bill as proposed, Justice and Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg said that the organisations and agencies that are being introduced by the bill will be there so as to curb abuses.

He explained how a Fostering Board will see to the cases brought forward, while an appeal to its decision can be lodged with the Board of Appeal. There will be a central agency that will investigate fostering agencies, accrediting them or otherwise. “Any organisation that is accredited by the central authority may put children into foster care.” Dr Borg ended his intervention by stating that “in any law the supreme interest of the child was taken into account.”

Winding up the debate, Family and Social Solidarity Minister Dolores Cristina thanked all for the heartfelt debate, and said that even though the opposition felt that the bill was done with such precision that one could not find fault in it, the debate showed that it still requires some adjusting. She said that anyone may forward suggestions and/or comments as they are still in time.

Answering certain questions put to her by the opposition, she emphasised the need for more psychologists and social workers, again highlighting the problem that even though there are vacancies and resources available, there are not enough people to fill in the posts.

“This debate has proved,” she said, “how the government is committed, and continues to be committed to the best interest of the child.”