More foster carers are needed to look after children who are unable to continue living with their birth families.

There are currently around 400 children in state care, half of whom are in foster care while the other half live in residential homes.  

Demand for carers is rising, according to the head of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services.

"Last year the child protection department investigated 2,185 reports," said Alfred Grixti.

"Not all of them led to care orders, of course, but it means the demand is growing and we need more placements."

Children's Rights Minister Michael Falzon appealed for people to open up their homes as an act of love and duty to the country.

The appeal, called Give Hope, Choose Fostering, aims to provide a stable upbringing to children who need it the most.

Children are taken into state care when living with their birth parents becomes too detrimental to their wellbeing and upbringing. Children can be put under a care order due to neglect, domestic violence, their parents' severe drug addiction, or other situations.

Some children in foster families are eventually reunited with their birth families when it becomes safe enough for them to return, but others are permanently adopted by their foster parents.

Foundation for Social Welfare Services CEO Alfred Grixti. PHOTO: Chris Sant Fournier.

'We need you'

Directorate for Alternative Care chief Remenda Grech said fostering is a fulfilling act of service and urged more people to consider it. 

"We need you. There is a young girl out there who needs to hold a parent's hand, and you can be the person to offer her that hand," Grech said. 

She detailed accounts of success stories of children and their foster parents.

Directorate for Alternative Care chief Remenda Grech. PHOTO: Chris Sant Fournier.

Most children are very young when they start living with a foster family, but Grech said last year the Directorate for Alternative Care also helped foster older children.

"We had nine, ten and thirteen-year-olds finding a foster family. It was an experiment, and it worked because the children adapted very well to their new life," she said.

'These children are our responsibility'

Grixti said that when they are entrusted to the care of the state, all of these children become the country's children.

"That is why we’re appealing to the altruistic sense that the Maltese people are known for," he said.

"Above all, we're appealing for a sense of love."

In 2020, legal changes meant that foster carers could apply to adopt their foster children after five years, and, in exceptional cases, after three years. Previously carers needed to have been fostering for 10 years before applying for adoption. 

"As with all laws, we are still on a learning curve, but we are here today because the law is working as intended," Grixti said.

The government gives foster parents a weekly allowance of €110 but both Falzon and Grixti stressed that foster parents are not driven by money but by love and altruism.