Minister for Solidarity and Social Justice Michael Falzon announced that the girl who was abudcted by her biological mother was found in England.

On Saturday, Falzon explained that the girl is in the custody of the British authorities and legal proceedings will be initiated to bring her back to Malta. He praised the work of all those who worked to find Arsema.

Arsema was abducted in October 2020 while under care, when her mother abducted the girl and fled Malta.

The Court had concluded that despite being abducted by her biological mother, she till committed a crime.

He noted that these are human cases and no one should use them to score political points.

The world today is celebrating World Children’s Day, a day of great significance and marking the importance of giving every child the best possible upbringing and access to education and health. The majority of children in Malta are raised and living with their biological family, but there are also instances where children are under state care.

On this very day, Minister Falzon developed an initiative to create a system where children in state care have more knowledge and access to their origins, as well as emotional help to live the first years of their lives in the most normal way.

He said that the Directorate for the Protection of Children, within the Foundation for Social Welfare Services (FSWS), will be promoting the idea of ​​a life story book for these children to build themselves a sequence of the first experiences in their lives. This is to address situations where there is a lack of information about the origin of their biological family as well as the first experiences in children’s lives.

The idea of ​​a life story book aims to gradually build a picture of the childhood of these children while giving them more possibility for information about their identity. This life story book is intended to be a useful source for foster carers, social workers and even adoptive parents to guide them.

Minister Falzon said the central point is to listen to and understand children as they leave their records in this book. This is while watching and encouraging children to interpret for themselves the most important events in their lives.

This storybook will be including important topics related to children's lives such as the rights and duties of children, what do children mean by the term ‘alternative care’, their favorite hobbies, photos with family or in the residence they are living, photos and memories of their biological family, doubts and positive feedback about their family members among others.