Klabb 3-16 centre refused to release children to their own father

Updated at 10.50 am with Malta Union of Teachers' statement

Staff at an after-school club in Qawra acted against the law when they refused to hand over two children to their father - who had turned up to pick them up early during a storm - because he had forgotten his pick-up cards.

Commissioner for Education Vincent De Gaetano, within the Office of the Ombudsman, noted that staff at Klabb 3-16 had acted against its own internal procedures, which allowed a child to be handed over as long as the person collecting them was listed as authorised, as was the case here.

“The decision not to release the complainant's children… was contrary to law, unreasonable and wrong in principle,” De Gaetano decided in his final opinion to the complaint made by the father.

He heard how the father, an EU national, and his wife live and work in Malta. They have two young children who attend a school in Qawra. Since late 2022, they had been regularly picked up after school by either parent.

On December 5, a stormy day, the father decided to pick up his children at 2.30pm instead of 3pm, to avoid further rain and possible road flooding. At the time, the children were at the Klabb 3-16 Qawra Centre run by the Foundation for Educational Services. Klabb 3-16 is a national programme catering for students during after-school hours.

When the father arrived at the centre, he realised he did not have the pick-up cards bearing the children’s names - a system introduced in August 2025 to facilitate and speed up the release of children to authorised adults without the need to verify identity against the authorised pick-up list. In this case, the authorised adults were the mother, father and aunt.

The father identified himself using his Maltese Residence Permit, which showed his name and photograph. He also presented a screenshot on his mobile phone of the two pick-up cards.

However, the official at the door, after consulting a supervisor, refused to hand over the children. The father even contacted the Qawra police station, but no assistance was forthcoming. The children were eventually released about an hour later when their mother arrived at the centre with her copy of the two pick-up cards.

What the rules state

In evaluating the case, the Commissioner noted that the Klabb 3-16 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) state that if a student is picked up without a pick-up card, the coordinator or staff member at the door must verify the individual’s identity using an ID card and confirm that they are listed on the Authorised Persons Pick-Up Form.

The coordinator must then call the parents to inform them that this cannot happen again and remind them that students can only be picked up upon presentation of the pick-up card.

After taking note of the SOPs - which the father had requested access to but was not granted access - and correspondence between the father and the Foundation for Educational Services (FES), the Commissioner stated: “What is striking from all the above evidence is that whereas it is pellucidly clear that the personnel, on duty at the centre, and charged with releasing children on the day in question failed to act reasonably and in line with the SOP document.”

He noted that every effort was made by the education authorities “to obfuscate this fact, with arguments about lack of staff, pressure of work and the safeguarding of children”.

While it was vital to ensure there are policies and safeguards in place to ensure that children are only released to authorised people, De Gaetano said he was “gobsmacked” by the suggestion made by a high official of the FES that the said SOP was an internal document and that parents have no right of access to it.

“The education of children is a collaborative process involving primarily the parents of the children. Any and every document directly or indirectly affecting children or their parents should, in principle, be accessible to parents: full public accountability, as the cornerstone of good administration in line with the rule of law, demands nothing less," he said.

Teachers' union condemns the commissioner's recommendation

In a statement, the Malta Union of Teachers disagreed with the Commissioner's recommendations, stating that all schools apply rigid measures to ensure that students do not leave schools or centres with unauthorised persons. 

"If such rigid measures are not applied, schools would be risking that students are kidnapped by adults, and God knows what would be the outcome, "MUT said.

The Union said instead of praising the FES for their strict measures on safeguarding children's wellbeing, the Education Commissioner slapped the FES with a decision claiming it acted illegally.

The union called the Ombudsman to interven the situation and to place the well-being of the child at the centre of recommendations issued from its office.