The Foundation for Social Welfare Services (FSWS) invested a total of €26,560,000 during the year 2021, €3.2 million over from the previous year, the FSWS annual report revealed.

The details were announced during a news conference where the FSWS annual report was discussed.

The report showed that a large investment has been made in human resources, with a number of social workers, family therapists, psychologists and other professionals having been recruited to help families in need on a daily basis. By the end of 2021, the FSWS employed 967 people.

The cases the foundation worked on continued to increase and amounted to 22,451 cases.

54% of these cases were women, while 46% were men. 27% of the total cases were persons aged between 18 and 39 years old, 25% were 17 years old or younger, 24% were between 40 and 59 years old, and 21% were 60 years old or older.

85% of the total cases were of Maltese nationality and 15% of them were foreigners, the report showed.

The launch of the new site for the foundation was an important milestone in 2021, which has been designed in an easy way to be accessed on a mobile phone, making it easier for victims such as those of domestic violence to get in touch with the foundation.

Minister for Social Policy and Children's Rights Michael Falzon said that behind every case of help, there is the person and their family. He noted the work that FSWS is carrying out in the community along with NGOs which assist vulnerable people.

Falzon mentioned the several cases of suicide which were recently reported and questioned if these could have been prevented.

“As professionals we have the duty and responsibility to be there for society, and offer solutions and an alternative way of life,” Falzon said.

FSWS CEO Alfred Grixti said that in 2021, the FSWS made the first property acquisition as government provided necessary funds to the foundation to buy a number of stone and roof apartments in Gozo, which will eventually be converted into shelters for homeless people.

For the first time during 2021, a survey was also carried out on the perception of clients on the FSWS, which will be published on the foundation's website.

The average mark of the respondents on the positive performance of all services offered by the FSWS was 70.50%. From an IT point of view, 2021 also saw the implementation of a Case Management System (CMS), system which proved more efficient when it comes to the information archive.