A CHILDREN IN CARE BENEFIT: AN OVERVIEW - MINISTRY FOR SOCIAL POLICY - MARCH 2001

A. Introduction

One of the electoral commitments included in this government's manifesto refers to the provision of "special support…for children separated from their parents". (Partit Nazzjonalista, Gid, Fiducja, Direzzjoni, 190). Of course, this is not an issue which should be addressed merely because it is an electoral commitment. It is an issue which is fundamental to this government's commitment to strengthen the family and to provide for special care in those cases where families are in difficulty.

The preamble to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, states that the family is the "fundamental group of society and the natural environment for the growth and well being of all its members and particularly children".

This notwithstanding, every society recognises the fact that extreme cases exist where the welfare of the child does sometimes necessitate the separation of the child from its own birth family.

In local legislation, this possibility is contemplated and remedies are provided for in the Children and Young Persons (Care Orders) Act. This act provides for the issue of care orders either by a court of law, or by the Minister for Social Policy who is personally obliged to issue a care order in those cases where he/she is satisfied that the child is "in need of care, protection or control". The fact that this is a duty placed on the Minister is unfortunate and the matter will be addressed separately in the draft Children's Act, which will be presented to Cabinet in the near future.

The afore-mentioned convention, of which Malta is a signatory, stipulates the following regarding cases where children have to be separated from their families:

1. A child temporarily or permanently deprived of his or her family environment, or in whose own best interests cannot be allowed to remain in that environment, shall be entitled to special protection and assistance provided by the State.

2. States Parties shall in accordance with their national laws ensure alternative care for such a child.

3. Such care could include, inter alia, foster placement, … adoption or if necessary placement in suitable institutions for the care of children. When considering solutions, due regard shall be paid to the desirability of continuity in a child's upbringing and to the child's ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic background." (Article 20).

It is noteworthy that this convention recommends placement in "suitable institutions" as the last option, after fostering and adoption. In the Draft Legislation of the United Nations of 6 May 1975 on Social and Legal principles relating to the protection and welfare of children, with special references to foster placement and adoption it was noted that:

"It is in the best interest of every nation to give high priority to family and child welfare…Every child has a right to a family. Children who cannot remain in their biological family should be placed in a foster family or adoption in preference to institutions, unless the child's particular needs can be met in a specialised facility."

Fostering can be described as the care of children on a full-time, temporary basis by persons other than their own parents, aimed at offering a supportive family environment to children whose natural parents cannot upbring them. The children's parents retain their parental rights and generally the ultimate aim is the return of the child to the natural family.

Early during 1999, the Social Affairs Committee discussed 'Children at Risk'. During its proceedings a youth, who spent her life in institutions, was invited to share her experiences and hopes. When asked what she would have opted for, the young woman answered "to have a family or be adopted".  The same train of thought is echoed in the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers' resolution On Placement of Children (Resolution (77) 33, adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 3rd November 1977). Here the Committee of Ministers recommends that governments of member states should:

"ensure in the framework of their policies for family welfare that placement decisions are taken accordingly to sound procedures and in a favourable context, in particular by…promoting foster care as being frequently the best mode of temporary placement, especially for young children…" (2 and 2.13)

Our Courts have also maintained this position. In Anthony Zammit vs Mary Joan Zammit, the Court of Appeal held that:

"Ghalkemm ma jonqsux f'dawn il-Gzejjer istituti fejn dawn it-tfal jigu mrobbijin, istruwiti u edukati sewwa fil-formazzjjoni tal-qalb taghhom u fl-izvillup tal-forzi korporali u intelletwali bhala fondament tal-hajja futura taghhom utili u onesta; izda hu preferribli fl-interess tat-tfal l-ambjent ta' dar u ta' familja…" (Attard Ann, 1993, p 41).

The desirability of foster placement instead of residential care is confirmed by scientific research.

Two important studies commissioned by the Ministry for Social Policy and finalised in August 2000 and October 2000 respectively provide important facts and considerations. The first of these two studies is entitled : "Il Htigijiet tat-Tfal f'Malta" and was compiled by Mr Vincent Tonna, Fr Silvio Bezzina, Sister Magdalene Cauchi, Mr John Role, Ms Monya Vassallo, Fr Savio Vella and Ms Carmen Zammit. The second study is entitled "Residential Homes for Children in Malta – an overview" prepared by Ms Chiara Cortis Micallef. The former report includes an evaluation of existing services provided by residential homes for children as well as foster care services, whereas the latter provides an overview of the client base residing in the homes and the staff available.

The following are the main considerations that may be drawn from both these reports:

Unfortunately a bias in favour of residential care does exist in Malta. In fact during the first week of October 2000 there were 323 children in residential care while only 51 in foster care. This situation can be attributed mainly to the fact that fostering is a very recent development (locally).

The following residential care services exist in Malta and Gozo:

Creche – Ursuline Sisters, Sliema

Angela House, G'Mangia

St. Rita Home, Tarxien

Piccola Casa di San Guseppe, Valletta

St. Theresa Home, Zurrieq

Jesus of Nazareth Home, Zejtun

St. Joseph Home, Zabbar

Dar Sagra Familja, Zabbar

Fra Diegu Home, Hamrun

St. Patrick's, Sliema

St. Joseph Home, Sta Venera

Jeanne Antide, Bugeja Home, Sta. Venera

Fatima House, Sliema

Lourdes Home, Gozo

Dar tal-Provvidenza

Programme Fejda, Sta Venera

During the first week of October there were 173 boys and 150 girls (total 323 children) residing in these homes. The majority of the children fall under the 6-10 age bracket followed by the 1-5 age bracket and 11-15 age bracket. The children come from 49 different localities in Malta and Gozo. The average number of children coming from each locality is 6, whilst the greatest concentration of children come from the Cottonera area (37 children) followed by Valletta (20 Children) and San Gwann (18 children).

The study also provided us with the following information regarding the reasons for referral to residential care :

(NB : CO = Care Order; CT = Court Order, Vol= Voluntary admission)

(The total figure of 340 children varies from the figure quoted above since the table represents a snapshot taken prior to October 2000)

The above table indicates that a total of 101 children are in residential care either as a result of a court order or else as a result of a care order issued by the Minister for Social Policy. However, a large number of the rest of the children would have been voluntarily referred to the residential home.

The table also indicates quite clearly that the reason that was cited most (apart from the "other" category), was that related to the physical and mental health of one or both of the parents.

Both studies quoted above have highlighted the following main problems faced by residential care providers

All local residential services, with one exception (Fejda) are run by Religious Orders, from which Orders almost all carers (and domestic staff) hail. Unfortunately, membership in religious orders is decreasing and increasingly becoming older.

Government cannot escape the implications of this reality. It means that within a few years residential homes for children will have to replace these persons with salaried staff. It also means that each replacement will imply the engagement of at least three other persons since members of a religious order do not – as a rule – follow a forty hour week regime.

Moreover, staffing issues are further complicated by the nature of the needs of children in care. While in the past these homes were geared for orphans or children of large poor families, the current client profile is radically different. Nowadays most children come from dysfunctional families and environments and have marked social and psychological needs which necessitate professional intervention, and not just good disposition.

Obviously residential services carry huge financial burdens which – save for some minor exceptions - are borne exclusively by the Religious Order that is running the residential home. This applies in particular to those children who need specialised interventions (e.g. psychological, psychiatric, etc), which are very expensive; but it applies also to normal day to day needs.

Government's contribution to these homes is limited to :

a discount on utility bills equivalent to what is granted to "Clubs and Churches";

a contribution under the Children's Allowance Scheme regulated by the Social Security Act (as outlined below) and

a per capita allowance granted exclusively to 5 of the homes listed above, as a result of an agreement which was reached in 1957, and reviewed in 1969 and in 1980. But otherwise, the homes are left to their own resources.

The absence of any regulatory framework within which residential services can develop and operate is a very serious handicap. The Ministry for Social Policy shall be addressing this lacuna through the new Child Act.

Foster Care

As mentioned above foster care services are a recent development in Malta. Fostering services were significantly beefed up during last year (three new full-time equivalent social workers wholly dedicated to fostering were engaged with SWDP). Nevertheless we still have a long way to go. Government is committing itself more fully to support and promote fostering both on the political as well as on the practical levels. In this respect, a highly commendable move was the granting of unpaid leave to Public Service employees fostering children (OPM Circular 47/99).

The main problems faced by Foster Carers have been identified as follows :

The absence of a legal framework where foster care can be regulated and operated causes serious problems to foster carers in carrying out their duties and indeed fostered children. The Child Act (and the Family Court) will both address this need.

Foster carers need a varying level of support to meet problems that arise during the placement e.g. problems from the fostered children, from the birth family, etc. Various studies, including some local research, establish a relationship between the success of the foster placement and the level of support received by social workers. Significant improvements took place during last year but still much needs to be done.

It is obvious that taking care of a child entails expenses. Practically all of the children in foster care need specialised interventions (e.g. psychological, psychiatric, etc), which are very expensive. This is because the children's social history is normally replete with traumatic experiences. Foster parents, therefore, provide a substitute family environment, which is vital to the child in order to move closer to what, can be described as "normal childhood experiences". These challenges are therefore exacerbated by the fact that most of the services required are expensive. As a result, a foster family is unfairly burdened by the fact that there is little or no support given to it in order to provide the adequate care level which is expected in these cases.

There is a lack of awareness about fostering in general and its benefits as well as about the right of every child to have a family.

Various reasons, social, demographic, cultural and ethical have brought us at the crossroads. Child welfare necessitates that the Government, indeed the state, undertakes a number of initiatives, mainly legal, financialand service provision.

Unfortunately, successive Governments have been more spectators rather than promoters and enablers of services to children who have to live away from their families. Public contribution to these services illustrates this:

i) Children in Residential Care

The children allowance benefit for children in a residential care is pegged to the amount payable to the third child within a household. This benefit is granted through an administrative arrangement.

Thus, prior to July 1996, the management of children residing in children's homes received the weekly rate of Lm1.76 per child (25cents daily). Following the introduction of the means-tested children allowance, this rate was increased to Lm3.60 (51.4 cents daily).

The management of these homes receives also the Milk Grant (a scheme initiated in 1969), i.e. 7.5 cents daily per child per day:

Residents of Dar tal-Providenza are in receipt of 15 cents per day within the Milk Grant scheme.

As stated above, there exists also a per capita allowance of 55 cents per child paid to every child in five out of the fifteen homes. These are : St Joseph Home (St. Venera), Lourdes Home (Gozo), Ursuline Cr'?che (Sliema), Angela House (G'Mangia) and St Rita Home (Tarxien).

Lourdes Home (Gozo) and St Joseph Home (St. Venera) started receiving a per capita grant of 25 cents (daily) in 1958, while the Ursuline received 37c5 since 1969. This grant was increased to 55 cents in March 1980 and was never reviewed since.

It is pertinent here to point out that there are two services that are heavily funded by government. The first is St Patrick's Salesian School. Although Lm300,000 were budgeted this year for this school, the residential service for this school receives a small fraction of this as the bulk goes towards the running expenses of the school.

The other service is Programme Fejda (which is a government run programme for adolescent females) for which Lm80,000 were voted in the 2001 Estimates. During 1999 the sum of Lm 65,831.60 was actually spent for the running of this programme. Considering that an average of nine adolescents are residing at any one time, the cost per child totals to over LM7,300 per annum.

Children living within a foster family are considered as children of the foster carers for Children Allowance computation purposes.

In this regard it is interesting to quote from a letter (17 November 1980) by the Director of Social Services to the Ministry of Finance, Customs and People's Financial Investments about "the per capita grant, which, it is anticipated would be paid to foster parents":

"although foster parents should not undertake to do this for profit, they should not be made to fork out money from their own pockets, or maintain the foster child (as regards dress, pocket money, etc) at a lower standard then their own children."

Unfortunately, there has never been any follow up on this recommendation.

Financial considerations forwarded to foster carers should not be seen as a payment to foster carers for services rendered. On the contrary, it must be considered as a means to support these families in covering the expenses they face when fostering a child. These may include the usual ones (clothing, schooling, medical, etc) as well as the special needs (special education, specialised therapies and interventions, etc).

Fostering is known to have considerable preventive elements: it could help a family from breaking up completely as well as preventing a child from abuse within his/her home. Foster care provides a healthy family environment where relationships are nurtured and personalities are developed. Thus it can help in preventing children with difficult backgrounds from ending up being involved in drug abuse, prostitution or crime. Nevertheless the greatest strength of foster care is that it can give better care and quality of life to children in need.

It is also a much better alternative than residential or institutional care.

The fact that about one third of children in care are wards of the state places a heavy burden of responsibility on the state. It is the Ministry's belief that this situation can (and should) be improved considerably.

Government is therefore, launching a new benefit, the "Children in Care Benefit", where the means of those providing care for these children (foster carers or residential care) are not taken into account. This benefit would substitute existing payments (with the exception of the rebate on utility bills granted to residential homes) and would be equivalent to Lm12 per child per week (this figure is higher than the maximum rate of children's allowance paid for the first child which presently stands at Lm8.65 per week).

The new Children In Care Benefit shall mean that :

The support to residential homes would be streamlined into one benefit;

The financial contribution forked out by government would become more consonant to its responsibilities;

The benefit translates into a concrete step supporting foster carers and residential care services in their services to children living outside their families.

Different situations necessitate different levels of support and Government wants to facilitate the development of mechanisms to cater for different needs and different scenarios.

The financial support is very important but not enough. The Ministry for Social Policy will continue to invest substantial resources in order to upgrade the national infrastructure in those areas where children's issues arise.