No official interference behind drop in care orders – ministry

A spokesperson for social policy minister Michael Farrugia has denied that a drop in the number of care orders issued annually since 2013 was anything but coincidence.

127 care orders for children were issued in 2013, but the numbers fell sharply to 27 in 2014 and to 21 in 2015. 

From last January to the end of May, only four care orders were issued this year.

Claudia Cuschieri, communications officer at the ministry, told MaltaToday that the drop in the issue of care orders “was because there were fewer requests from professionals for care orders”.

She insisted that no policy changes had been instituted.

The issue of care orders came to light in court when a police inspector testified that Aġenzija Appoġġ had claimed ministerial interference for refusing to issue a care order in the case of a seven-year-old allegedly forced by his father to have sex with prostitutes.

Informed sources have told MaltaToday that a prostitute had reported the case to Aġenzija Appoġġ a full three weeks before the police intervened.

The sources claimed that “apathy on the part of Appoġġ” led to no immediate action being taken on learning of the situation of the seven-year-old boy, and that the agency was under the ministry’s orders to limit the number of care orders issued.

Janette Scicluna, on behalf of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services, said that the procedure for issuing care orders has remained unchanged for the past years, and that care orders “are issued following the reports of professionals regarding children in need of care, protection or control.”

The compilation of evidence against the father began last month. 

According to the sources, Appoġġ representatives were asked to speak to their superiors to issue an urgent care order by police. “Their reply was ‘No chance. Forget it’,” the sources said. “The boy was eventually taken to Appoġġ by the police who asked about the care order upon their arrival, only to be told that the issue was still being discussed with [CEO] Alfred Grixti.”

The police returned in the evening and were instructed to try for voluntary committal of the child into care, instead of a care order. 

Minister for the family Michael Farrugia has since denied that he turned down a request by Aġenzija Appoġġ for a care order to be issued in this case or that he has issued any instructions ordering that no more care orders be issued.

When the man was arraigned last week, the police inspector told the court that Appoġġ had not wanted to issue a care order for the seven-year-old “because of ministerial direction”, as a limit was being sought to the number of care orders issued.

Under the current Children and Young Persons (Care Orders) Act, “if upon representations made to him in writing ... the Minister is satisfied that that child or young person is in need of care, protection or control, it shall be the duty of the Minister by an order in writing under his hand to take such child or young person into his care.”

When a child is taken from its parents and placed under a care order, the welfare of the child becomes the direct responsibility of the minister, “as if the child is his own”. 

Minister Farrugia is reportedly pointing to the Child Protection Bill, which is due to be discussed in Parliament next week, as a platform for changes to the current system of child protection. 

One measure proposed in that bill is a shifting of responsibility from the minister on to the courts, following an investigation. 

Police officers who spoke to MaltaToday welcomed the proposed changes to the law.

As the law now stands, there are three methods to remove a vulnerable child from parental custody: by means of a care order signed by the minister, through a court order – which is only temporary – or through the highly-questionable path under which the agency gets the parents to sign a declaration that they have placed the child “voluntarily in care”. 

In the latter scenario, the legal obligation of care and custody remains with the parents, as this practice does not have a basis in law, MaltaToday confirmed.

In the case of the seven-year-old, Appoġġ had spoken with the parents who eventually signed the boy into care, “but this has no legal effect and the parents can therefore go and take the child back at a whim,” the sources explained, while expressing concern for the boy’s safety.

The minister last week criticised the way police handled the arraignment of the boy’s father, as had the Operations Director of Aġenzija Appoġġ, Ruth Sciberras. 

Sciberras had told the Malta Independent that the police had contacted her agency on Thursday last week, after picking the child up from school and questioning him about the report. 

The CEO of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services, Alfred Grixti, said this was not the usual procedure, and told media that the police’s handling of the case was “not up to par.”

MaltaToday has now learned that lack of transport means prevented an Appoġġ social worker accompanying the police when they went to pick the boy up at school.

When the police learned that “word came down from the top saying that no order would be issued because the minister didn’t want any more care orders”, they raced to collect the child when school finished, to avoid the abusive father picking him up again.

The officers then drove the boy to Appoġġ, where they picked up a social worker and, only then, went to police headquarters.

MaltaToday has learned that the police never interviewed the boy without the presence of a social worker, “and even then, only briefly.”

Echoes of 2014

This failure to transform court orders into care orders had already been flagged in a case in Gozo, two years ago. In that case Magistrate Joanne Vella Cuschieri had slammed Appoġġ over its handling of a case where German children had been abducted by German social workers and secretly flown out of Malta, saying the agency had shown it was “less able” to take care of the children than the mothers themselves.

“Appoġġ are continuously making mistakes,” agreed the source, adding that this was leading to cases taking months or years to be brought to the attention of the police.