Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/797847
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 12 MARCH 2017 News 9 resort, but insisted that the child's welfare should always be a social worker's top priority. "Seven care orders in one year are too few for the number of cas- es verified," she said. "Such a low number worries me and leaves me wondering why it is so." Zerafa, whose doctoral thesis was on the decision-making pro- cess to remove children from pa- rental care, said her research had highlighted the low number of foster families registered in Malta and the acute shortage of residen- tial homes for children. "No request for a care order will be considered unless the social worker can guarantee immediate alternative placement for that boy or girl," she said. She bemoaned the fact that a planned campaign to encour- age fostering had been cut short abruptly. "It is no wonder that fostering is so widespread in the US – authorities there promote it as being more precious than gold," Zerafa said. Zerafa's research showed that the parents' voice was much stronger than that of the child, when child protection assessments were being carried out and decisions taken. "A clear example of this was how pa- rental cooperation was found to be given a lot of weight in the de- cision-making process, when the focus should be the impact which this parental cooperation is having on the child concerned." Zerafa said it is the right of chil- dren to be involved in decisions taken about them, including, and especially, decisions with far- reaching consequences, such as the care order decision. "Social workers should be trained to use techniques which are child-friend- ly and age-appropriate to facili- tate a thorough exploration of the wishes, thoughts, fears and hopes of the children concerned." Zerafa also said that children tend to be unprepared for the drastic change of the care order, as social workers may not discuss the possibility of this decision with them. Commissioner for Children Pauline Miceli agreed that it was imperative that children be pro- tected from further abuse. But she insisted that care orders should only be considered as a conclu- sion to a thorough assessment of whether it is in the best interests of the child to be removed from the family. "This principle, which is clearly articulated in Article 20 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, means that although it may not be ideal for a child to remain in the family where he or she has been abused, removing the child from the family may be more harmful to the child than keeping him or her in it," she said. "However, the family should be given the necessary support to overcome the difficulties that may have led to abuse." The FSWS confirmed that a number of cases were closed de- spite there being confirmation of the abuse. "This generally happens because there would be a support- ive element in the family or a par- ent that is willing to take action to protect the child/ren," it said. "The Child Protection Services had sev- eral cases that led to swift police action to protect the children or swift action by a concerned rela- tive or parent who took the matter to court to protect the children." Miceli however pointed out that with the number of reports of al- leged child abuse being six times higher than the number of cases of verified child abuse, this pointed to a "civil culture of active intol- erance towards the ill-treatment of children, whether or not such treatment is tantamount to abuse in the strict sense of the word." Miceli said that the Child Pro- tection Bill would only deliver the desired results if adequate sup- porting resources, structures and services are in place to allow deci- sions and plans concerning each and every child who has suffered abuse within the family to be im- plemented and followed through. "The authorities should keep in mind that children cannot wait," she said. JAMES DEBONO A huge retail centre that will oc- cupy some 30,646 square metres of retail space constructed over three levels, is being proposed in an area presently occupied by the Barbros construction plant next to the Lidl supermarket in Zejtun. The site on which the devel- opment is being proposed has a footprint of 37,880 sq.m. The application was presented by Hudson International Ltd, which owns the whole site, and already operates 27 outlets in Malta representing international brands, such as Kiabi, River Is- land, Timberland, Nike, UJ Hos and Urban Jungle. The application foresees the "rehabilitation" of the area, the demolition of existing structures and the construction of a com- mercial hub. Although located outside devel- opment zones the site is desig- nated as an area of containment – a zoning for areas which ac- commodate industrial or com- mercial related activities, located outside the development zone. The local plan allows the rede- velopment of these sites if no del- eterious impacts will result from the proposed development on neighbouring sites. The disturbed area is surrounded by agricultural land. The application incorporates the existing 2,500 sq.m Lidl su- permarket on the ground floor, a gigantic 12,964 sq.m department store constructed over three lev- els and an additional 17,682 sq.m of other retail shops. Under- ground parking will cater for 752 cars while 408 parking spaces are allocated at ground floor level. UNKNOWN persons slashed the tyres of the car owned by BirdLife Malta's chief executive officer, Mark Sultana, while he was bird- watching in the vicinity of the for- mer Jerma Palace Hotel in Marsas- kala in the early hours yesterday. Sultana discovered the damage when he returned to his car and filed a report with the police, who are investigating. The area around the Jerma is known to be heavily frequented by hunters and bird-watchers alike. Sultana, who took up the top post with BirdLife Malta in December 2015, was one of the main spokes- persons in the 2016 anti-spring hunting campaign and remains a vociferous exponent of the need to clamp down on illegal hunting. He has been an active member of BirdLife Malta for over 30 years. ial workers worried Huge commercial hub proposed next to Zejtun's Lidl BirdLife CEO's car tyres slashed while bird-watching