Foster carers: ‘children in our care need laws to reflect their fundamental rights’

The National Foster Care Association Malta (NFCAM) has called for the urgent revision of the Foster Care Act in order to give fundamental rights to children in their care.

Addressing the third annual conference of the association, NFCAM president Jason Zerafa said that the update of the 2007 Act was needed in order to allow - for example - children in foster care to be able to travel abroad with their foster parents.

"These rights include facilitating the way for foster carers to obtain a passport for children in their care; the right to be baptized and the right to be registered when they are born," he said.

Zerafa added that there were cases were children wouldn't have been registered at birth, leaving both child and foster carers without the access to financial benefits.

Foster carers also called for the permanent foster care. "There are cases were no contact between the child and its natural parents exists, but at the same time adoption would not be in the best interest of the child. In this case, the choice of permanent foster care should be made available," Zerafa said.

He added that permanent foster care would guarantee the stability needed, fundamental for the children.

Currently in Malta there are 228 foster care families and 23 single carers. A total of 231 children are in foster care, of which only 71 reside with relatives.

Present for the conference were Justice Minister Chris Said and Labour MP Justyne Caruana. Both MPs have been very active in this field, so much so that NFCAM expressed its wish to see both MPs retaining their seats in parliament following the coming election.

"You have worked very hard to get us where we are today. I urge you to continue with this work and push forward these children's needs high on the parliament's agenda," Zerafa urged Said and Caruana.

On his part, Chris Said admitted that have passed through a personal experience that involved adoption and fostering, made the matter more important to him.

"I am convinced that fostering is a concrete way by which we are answering to the challenges the children are facing. We are giving them a new life, the opportunity of giving them the best they could have considering the circumstance," he said.

Said said the care provided by the foster carer was important for the development of the child in question and, despite it being a relatively new concept for Malta, foster care has picked up quickly in Malta.

"I thank those families who open these children with open arms. There are structures in place that help foster carers, but these are not enough. Social workers and carers alike must be given more training - not a one-size fits all training but personalised according to the situation," he added.

The minister also added that government was ready to revise the budget allocated for children in care.

During her intervention, Labour's spokesperson for the family Justyne Caruana said that foster carers needed all the support and protection they could get in order to take care of the children in their care.

"Sometimes, foster carers are faced by threats emanating from the child's natural parents thinking that the carers will take away their children," Caruana said.

Referring to a study to be published in the coming weeks, Caruana said it was proven that children in foster care develop better than those who grow up in institutions.