Social welfare head warns MPs of severe social worker shortage

Too few people are interested in taking up a job as a social worker, the CEO of the Social Welfare Foundation warned MPs at the family affairs committee.

Alfred Grixti said that only 138 people graduated as social workers from the university between 2011 and 2015. 73 of these were employed directly by the Foundation after they graduated.

“I cannot explain why but students seem to prefer to enter courses on social policy rather than on social work,” he said. “The supply doesn’t meet the demand and as a result, the Foundation has had to engage social support workers in order to aid social workers.”

Opposition MP Robert Cutajar claimed that the shortage of social workers was partially due to social workers being demotivated at how the Children and Young Persons Advisory Board frequently dismisses their professional advice.

The board is chaired by Carmen Fearne, a social worker whose son is health minister Chris Fearne and who the Opposition has previously claimed was incompetent.

“The fostering sector has regressed in the past two years, and the bottom line is that children are suffering,” Cutajar said.
Grixti said that qualified foreigners interested in becoming a social worker at Appogg should be given Maltese lessons.

“We have been approached by some foreigners who are fully qualified and want to work with us, but have problems regarding the language barrier,” he said. “Perhaps we should stat thinking outside the box and give them Maltese lessons.”

As of December last year, 207 children were in residential care, 187 in foster care, 27 in specialized foster care, 25 in other placements.

308 of these children were placed there through care orders and 43 under court orders, while the remaining 147 were voluntary cases.

159 of the children and youth in residential and foster care have behavioural difficulties.

Grixti called for an aftercare service to support youths who move out of residential care.

“This service should not be limited to youths up to 21, but should support vulnerable people until they are able to attain independence.”

The family affairs committee is organising a series of consultative meetings with various organisations and stakeholders on the upbringing of children. The idea is to create a report which would be tabled in parliament, with a view of helping policymakers base a better opinion.

An Appogg representative warned that chronic family problems tend to stymie the agency’s efforts to reunite children with their parents.

“Some parents themselves are addicted to drugs or alcohol, while some have mental health problems or chaotic lifestyles – such as being engaged in prostitution.”

She said that the agency has to constantly make “calculated risks” when deciding on when to reunite children with their parents.

“We must calculate risks by carrying out assessments on the parents’ and childrens’ situations, and the confines of where they will meet,” she said. “For example, some children will be safe meeting their parents under supervision but cannot meet them at home because they will be exposed to drugs, abuse and prostitution there.”

During the meeting, Robert Cutajar questioned why a Bill to safeguard childrens’ rights has been “shelved” for 26 months.

The Bill was tabled in Parliament in March 2014 by former minister and now President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca.

Labour whip Godfrey Farrugia said that he hopes the Bill will be discussed in the House before Parliament breaks for summer recess, and that the delay was due to social welfare minister Michael Farrugia’s insistence that it be presented simulatenously with another Bill.