Children left out of court decisions that shape their lives, study finds

Children are continuously being left out of court decisions which shape their lives, a new study has concluded.

Researcher Bernadine Satariano said that across the interviews she conducted with children, the constant narrative was, ‘they left us out’.

"They repeatedly said the most painful thing for them was that 'no one explains anything' to the child,” Satariano said.

The study, Child-Friendly Justice: Giving A Voice To The Child In Family Court Proceedings, argues that this failure to engage directly with children in court, continuously allows abuse to remain hidden “behind the rhetoric of protection”.

The Malta Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society (MFWS), together with the Children’s Rights Observatory of Malta (CROM), supported researcher Satariano’s study. The findings were addressed on Wednesday by Justice Minister Jonathan Attard and MFWS Chair Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca.

Many adults had perceived ex-child participants as naïve or incapable of understanding the implications of their current familiar problems, Satariano explained. Without child-friendly explanations, children are often left in the dark about court proceedings, between conflicting parental narratives.

One child’s statement, overturning the court’s presumption that children do not know what is best for them, read: “I was aware of what was happening at home… the fighting, the arguments, the domestic violence. There was no one who supported me or heard me… No one believed me that my mother did not love me.”

Another statement displayed an inability for self-advocacy during court hearings: “Most of the time, the voice of the child in court can only be heard through the parents and the lawyers… but if you are abused by a parent, how on earth does the court assume that as a child you will report it.”

It was noted that these experiences were not isolated, but were prevalent across all young adult participants who went through family separation, describing the process as being “forced to move like a ping-pong ball between homes.”

Satariano said Malta’s Family Court , set up in 2003, is built around adults, consequently underestimating children’s competence.

Coleiro Preca urged the courts and policymakers to push forward necessary changes to the present court system. “With leadership, time, and political will, Malta will be able to make a difference,” she said.

“As long as adults and professionals keep saying ‘they’re too young to understand’ or ‘we’re protecting them by not telling them’, the system will continue to be designed to talk about children, around children, but not with the child,” she added

Alongside research, guidebooks were introduced to help support children and parents during the separation process.

“Children see everything. They see the abuse,” Satariano said, making the case for appropriate child explanations throughout the judicial process.