Hail commissioner for children!

If the 1970s heralded a new innovative look at social services in Malta, our present government is certainly the mastermind behind upgrading social services with all their ramifications to a premier service. A premier service in social policies is, as far as I am concerned, only to the ultimate glory of the most needy.

The latest parliamentary discussion on the setting up of a commissioner for children heralds a discussion and a law aimed definitely towards the most vulnerable of our society.

The establishment of a commissioner for children will be central to the mission of increasing an understanding about the interconnections among contexts in which human development occurs, such as the family, neighbourhood, school, community, culture and international environment.

Child safety is the driving force for the commissioner's mission, budget, organisation, planning and management. Social systems and societal institutions are interconnected in ways that either foster or hinder the development of children, youth, families and early learning. Fundamental to this "development in context" perspective is that individuals, families, and educational settings are nested within a complex hierarchy of interconnected social systems. This perspective maintains that human development results from multi-directional influences conveyed by individual ontogeny and the immediate social environments such as the family and the school. This focus requires in part, that human and family development be viewed both from multiple perspectives and re-synthesis of existing frameworks, with clear sensitivity to issues of personal, economic and cultural values.

The commissioner for children should be the main spokesman for all children. In doing so, he/she must have an eclectic understanding of legal but, above all, of emotional underpinnings that are so complicated with children. Whereas adults have the faculty of abstracting and being able to give their views and defend their interest, children are concrete thinkers and it is only through a thorough analysis of their behaviour that one can come to a possible understanding of what they want to impart.

A common mistake that people make is to take what children say at face value and not go beyond what is being expressed. This intricate dynamic will exist in most of children and family services including adoption, behavioural analysis services projects, child abuse, child care, community services related to children, developmental disabilities, domestic violence, economic services pertaining to children, foster care, homelessness, refugee services and substance abuse and mental health. The commissioner for children will have the delicate duty to intercalate all these services into a harmonious mesh. A thorny task indeed, a task that will require a person in charge who has abundant knowledge on all of the areas mentioned above.

It should be the policy of the commissioner to promote the well-being of children and families through the development of integrated, comprehensive, child-centered, family-focused and community-based services that are accessible, cost-effective, of good quality and delivered in the least restrictive environment possible. Looking at other systems, I propose that some of the main duties of the commissioner for children should include:

¤ preparing an annual children's budget that identifies all national resources dedicated to children's services and making recommendations concerning the allocation of those resources;

¤ developing and implementing a mechanism for pooling resources from multiple national agencies to fund a community-based system of care that will deliver integrated services to children and their families based on individual needs;

¤ preparing an annual nationwide plan for promoting the well-being of children and families through preventive services;

¤ establishing benchmarks to measure the well-being of children in Malta and Gozo and reporting annually to the minister for social policy and parliament on their status;

¤ establishing and maintaining arrangements with the University of Malta to conduct research and evaluations related to children's service needs and the outcomes of state policies and programmes for children and families;

¤ monitoring existing services such as day care services and

¤ creating educational fora/debates that help in the understanding of children's needs especially in view of their rights in cases of separation.

Children, parents, carers, social workers, medical doctors, psychologists and lawyers who have some experience with children know what a blessing the establishment of such an office as the commissioner for children is. Malta has been yearning for such a child mentor and representative. Let us hope that our parliament approves the law establishing the office of commissioner for children with promptness.

Dr Cassar is a consultant psychiatrist in the child guidance clinic at St Luke's Hospital.