The Labour Party agrees with the traditional definition of family but it also insists that other forms of family exist and that attention must be given to all kinds of families in Malta.

Labour leader Alfred Sant was addressing a conference yesterday organised by the Socialist group in the EU’s Committee of Regions being held in Malta.

Dr Sant said that family policy in Malta is passing through a time of revision. The way in which a family is organised is facing fundamental transformations as traditional-style families continue to exist but other kinds of families have been formed.

Sometimes, he added, there is pressure to have the Maltese family defined as being made up of two parents, a man and a woman, together with the children, while other types of families not be considered as families.

Unfortunately, he added, non-traditional families continue to face discrimination on a real level, if not on the legal one.

Labour insists that what is right for the children must come first and foremost. Under pressure from a consumer pattern of society, the way children are brought up has changed drastically: many children are no longer receiving the social, cultural and spiritual backing they need to develop well.

A social policy that seeks to address this changed situation must not be based on paternalism but with full respect for the different styles of families, always keeping the good of the children as the foremost principle.

Children coming from non-traditional families must be given the same opportunities as children coming from traditional families, Dr Sant said.