The shortage of staff to work with child abuse victims needs to be given national priority, according to the Lisa Maria Foundation that lobbies for the improvement of safeguarding.
“Acquiring professional and qualified staff to work in the social field is becoming more and more difficult by the day, and in a sensitive area such as child protection this is even more difficult. However, this needs to be a national priority, with every possible resource thrown at it, to ensure that children are kept safe,” the foundation said in a statement.
The foundation was set up in memory of Lisa Maria Zahra – a 15-year-old who was murdered by her drama teacher in 2014 - with the overarching objective of ensuring the protection of children and youth.
The statement was issued in reaction to data released earlier this week in the Foundation for Social Welfare Services’ 2023 annual report. Data showed there was a lack of staff to work in Child Protection Services.
Child protection received 2,250 new child abuse reports last year. The report showed that the total cases worked (including old and new cases) by the Child Protection Services has been steadily increasing over the years - increasing from 2,306 cases in 2020 to 4,360 in 2023. The waiting list also increased from 6.8% in 2020 to 14% last year.
Today, the department receives about 200 new child abuse reports a month, the equivalent of around six reports every day.
FSWS chief executive Alfred Grixti noted that the high numbers were due to mandatory reporting in cases of child abuse that could range from neglect to physical and sexual abuse. Mandatory reporting came into force in 2021.
The report showed Child Protection Services currently have 55 staff members, including managerial staff. “With a caseload of 25 cases each, we would need about 96 people working in child protection – we are 49 people short,” Grixti said.
The Lisa Maria Foundation said this was “deeply concerning”. Whilst it was unclear whether the amount of child abuse reports have nearly doubled in the last three years due to an increase in awareness, solutions must be found to ensure that children are not left at risk.
“We encourage children to speak up and report abuse, but to then be placed on a waiting list and left in abusive situations, echos the message that these children are not being heard,” the foundation said.
The Lisa Maria Foundation emphasises the importance of adopting a proactive approach to safeguarding which makes sure that all of the checks, balances, awareness and safeguarding measures are in place, in a bid to focus as much on the prevention than on the cure. This in itself will hopefully reduce the amount of reports to child protection and the strain that this is causing on the system.