John Rolè, who has stepped down from his instrumental position as team leader with the Fostering Agency at Appogg, has broken the silence he has kept since his situation was brought up in Parliament earlier this week.

He explains to The Malta Independent on Sunday that, “I was not dismissed or suspended from my work. I took the decision and asked to be seconded to work in another agency because I felt that I could not continue my work with Foundation for Welfare Social Services (FSWS) where I felt unwanted, mistrusted and where I had to struggle hard for the past two years.”

Last Monday, Nationalist MP Robert Cutajar told Parliament that Mr Rolè had stepped down from his position. In response, Family and Social Solidarity Minister Michael Farrugia said that if he is given permission from the person concerned to say what steps were planned to be taken against him and why, then the minister would be willing to "reveal all". He said that as he does not have permission, he will not say what happened and why.

Mr Rolè’s 40 years of experience as a social worker, half of them spent setting up and working in the field of fostering, as well as giving his input to various related policies and laws, has gone a long way toward raising greater awareness on fostering among the public.

Two years ago, Mr Rolè was given a transfer for no particular reason to another agency within Appogg. Uproar among foster carers had forced the ministry to reverse the decision, and he was also appointed to form part of a team consulting the minister on the setting up of a fostering agency.

Mr Rolè explained that last year three inquires, which The Malta Independent on Sunday has seen, were established to investigate how he had passed contact details of foster carers to the National Foster Care Association Malta (NFCAM).

Since the setting up of the Association 12 years ago, the Fostering Team Agency within Appogg, had worked closely together. For a number of years Mr Rolè was not only the Team Leader with Appogg, but he also had an executive role within the Association. He resigned from NFCAM after Minister Farrugia informed him that the two roles were in conflict.

Last June, the chairman of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services (FSWS) Joe Gerada set up an inquiry board headed by Judge Emeritus Philip Sciberras, after he received a letter dated January 2016 from the Data Commissioner, which claimed that Mr Rolè had “disclosed a list of foster carers to the Association without obtaining their prior consent”.

 

The Board of Inquiry

The Board of Inquiry heard that a former member of the NFCAM, Eman Seguna, who had been suspended months before, had gone to the Data Commissioner and reported Mr Rolè for forwarding a list of phone numbers of some of the foster carers. The Data Commissioner fined FSWS the sum of €250 because of shortcomings found in the processing of personal data. 

The first witness for the inquiry board was the president of the NFCAM Paul Gatt. He said that the sharing of “common data” between the Association and the Foundation went back years. He said that the contact details were used to send SMSs to the foster care members about forthcoming activities. Mr Gatt testified that when Mr Seguna was still a member of the Association, he used to send bulk text messages, but when he was suspended he used that data to send messages to foster carers to inform them of activities he was organising independently of the Association.

Another witness was the Chief Executive Officer of the foundation Alfred Grixti. He told the board that every agency within the foundation has its own “shared folder and social workers working in all agencies are made fully aware of the importance of confidentiality”.

Mr Grixti also pointed out with that Mr Rolè was giving more importance to the Association than to the agency he worked for, and that was detrimental to the children, their biological parents and their foster carers who were not members of the Association.

The FSWS CEO said that Mr Rolè himself had admitted that he had given a list of telephone numbers to Mr Seguna to send messages every time there was an event being organised by the NFCAM. But when Mr Seguna organised an event on his own initiative, Mr Rolè told his staff inform the foster carers that the activity was not being organised by NFCAM. Mr Grixti testified that, “no data protection notification forms were filled up and sent to the Data Commissioner.”

In his testimony, Mr Seguna confirmed that, “I was a member of the Association and that for years I used the same data that Appogg had to inform the members.” He presented an email saying that Mr Rolè, way back in 2012, had sent him a Microsoft Excel sheet with just the mobile numbers and the message he had to send for a Christmas party that Appogg was organising. Other emails showed correspondence between him, Mr Rolè and Mr Gatt informing foster carers about events, such as memorial services for foster carers that had passed away, fund-raising events and Christmas dinners. Mr Seguna testified that on 29 March 2015, Mr Rolè had emailed him and Mr Gatt to inform foster carers, including those who were not members, to invite them for an event.

In the same email Mr Rolè attached a list of numbers together with the names of the foster carers. Mr Seguna confirmed that he had gone to the Data Commissioner and told him that he was in possession of a “spreadsheet with names, addresses and contact numbers that Mr Rolè had forwarded [him]. As instructed by the Data Commissioner I deleted all the contacts.”

“I forwarded Eman a list of mobile numbers because he offered to send messages in bulk since Appogg had no means to do so and also because he was not going to charge us,” was what Mr Rolè said when he gave his testimony before the inquiry board.  He also confirmed that it was he who had set up the NFCAM Association 12 years ago to raise awareness on fostering. He resigned from the Association’s board two years ago after Minister Farrugia asked him to step down.

In his testimony Mr Rolè emphasised that the Association is not about foster carers, but about fostering. Mr Rolè confirmed that when he sent the email on 29 March, he did contact foster carers who were not members of the Association.

He added that on the same day the Association was to organise an event, Eman was also organising his own event. Mr Rolè said that he found out about all this because a particular foster carer called him and asked him where Mr Seguna had obtained her number from. As a result of that phone call, Mr Rolè told the NFCAM team to call the foster parents to inform them not to attend Mr Seguna’s activity.

After the board heard the testimony of the seven witnesses, on 17 August it came up with a number of recommendations. One recommendation stipulated that if you were a worker, volunteer or service provider within the foundation you could not form part of an organisation whose aim was to promote a particular service within the Foundation since that would be considered a conflict of interest. Another recommendation was that due to the sensitive data that the various agencies within the foundation hold, the employees need to be trained on how to process and secure such information. It also recommended that the Team Leaders within the Foundation do not remain within the same agency, but are relocated to other agencies within the Foundation. With this measure, both the employee and the FSWS would be seen to benefit.

 

The Disciplinary Board

Nine days after the Board of Investigation sent its report to the Foundation, Mr Rolè received a letter signed by Mr Grixti telling him that a disciplinary board has been appointed and that he would be summoned to appear before it. As stipulated by the collective agreement signed between FSWS and the UHM, the board of discipline was chaired by the Group Human Resources Manager Anthony Apap and another two other members from the Foundation. The same letter, which this newspaper has seen, also indicated that Mr Rolè could be assisted by a union representative or any other person of his choosing. Mr Rolè was assisted by lawyer Robert Abela during the hearings, the first of which was on 6 September.

On 19 September, after the disciplinary board heard the witnesses, it concluded that Mr Rolè, “through his actions committed a breach of the FSWS and agency’s data protection policies stipulated in the collective agreement and by disseminating personal information held by the Agency to third parties without the necessary consent.” The board also said that the matter as far as the Foundation was concerned, it was a, “serious offence and merits dismissal. However the Board of Discipline took full note of Mr Rolè’s actions being driven by his zeal to attract as many foster carers as possible for activities held by both entities”.

It recommended that the FSWS CEO take the following disciplinary actions: issue a written warning to Mr Rolè stating that he has been found in breach of the foundation policy on data protection and if this is repeated, further severe disciplinary action will be taken. It also recommended the removal of Mr Rolè from the role of leader and be re-assigned to another service within the foundation.

Mr Rolè, through his lawyer Dr Abela, decided to appeal the decision. 

The Appeals Board

Another board was set up and on 12 December began hearing the witnesses. The appeals board was chaired by Charles Cassar and this newsroom has seen a copy of the report.

During the hearing Dr Abela said that the decision to remove Mr Rolè from his position as team leader within the Fostering Agency goes against the collective agreement, since no disciplinary action had ever been taken against Mr Rolè in the past.

In the same hearing Mr Grixti testified that, “Mr Rolè gave out mobile phone numbers to Mr Seguna without the authorisation of the management.” Faced with this argument, Dr Abela said that giving mobile phone numbers does not mean one was breaking any Data Protection law. He also said that, “Mr Role’s actions were not bad intentioned and that the ultimate aim was to create more awareness vis-à-vis foster caring.”

Dr Abela said it was quite interesting that the FSWS management had not appealed the Data Commissioner’s decision, saying that the reason might be that such an appeal had not been lodged so that an employee could be charged and blamed for everything. Confronted with this argument the FSWS CEO denied Dr Abela’s accusation arguing that, “It was the FSWS board that decided not to appeal the decision given by the Data Commissioner.”

After the Appeals Board examined the case it concluded that, “Since this was Mr Rolè’s first wrongdoing, disciplinary action should be limited to the issuing of a warning letter” and not his removal as team leader, since the disciplinary board had recommended that this went against what is stipulated in the collective agreement. The Appeals Board also suggested that the foundation should come up with a manual of data protection procedures that should be explained and given to every employee. It also recommended that a Memorandum of Understanding should be signed with third parties that share data with the Foundation.

 

John Rolès comments

“I want to look forward. I will continue my work with International Foster Care Organization (IFCO), and in collaboration with NFCAM and the President’s Foundation for Wellbeing of Society, we will be hosting an International Foster Care Conference in Malta in November 2017.   

“My heartfelt thanks to the people closest to me: my wife, family, friends and colleagues who have shown their support and understanding during these difficult times. Also thank you to all social workers (past and present) who have worked relentlessly within the Fostering Team. To all the foster carers: past, present and future – your work is simply invaluable. Keep up the good work because all the children deserve to grow up in a safe, secure and happy environment.”

John Rolè has been leader of the Fostering Agency within Appogg since 1996. Between 2004 and 2006, at European level, Mr Role represented the International Foster Care Organisation (IFICO) and Malta in setting up the European Out-of-Home Care Standards. He had also served on the IFCO Board from 2007 to 2009. He is also a part-time lecturer at the University of Malta.

 

Questions concerning the case were also sent to Mr Grixti but replies were not forthcoming as of yesterday evening