The pressure of working and schooling from home at the height of the pandemic caused some parents to become aggressive and neglectful towards their children, according to the director of Child Protection Services,  Steve Libreri.

“During COVID, we met people who are usually not on our radar,” he said.

“These include people from affluent backgrounds. COVID turned their life upside down, blurring the line between home and work. As these two worlds collided, the pressures increased. Parents who are not usually abusive started using stressed-out behaviour and got violent and neglectful. We had quite a number of these reports.”

A few months after the pandemic hit the island in March 2020, restrictive measures caused people to work from home and schools were shut.

Although measures have since been eased, some still resorted to remote working and online schooling. This was a time when people’s mental health issues spiralled. The Richmond Foundation, which supports people with mental health problems, saw a rise in anxiety, fear and stress.

In some cases, this manifested itself at home in the form of abuse even in the case of usually peaceful households.

Libreri explained that reports were made either by neighbours or teachers who saw parents’ abusive behaviour during online schooling. 

Children ignored, yelled at

Asked to give examples, Libreri spoke about instances when children were provided with basic needs – like food – but left to their own accord for long hours while parents spent the day in virtual meetings. 

“We had cases of neighbours reporting hysterical shouting that is abusive and would include excessive swearing, insults, often times accompanied with sounds of things smashing and breaking,” he said.

Reports are made either by neighbours or teachers

In the majority of these cases, the parents had the skills to adopt positive parenting. So, when approached by social workers, they would take the remedial action necessary.

“They would have crumbled under the stress… we are here to help and not disrupt the family. Our hope is to disrupt the problematic processes,” he said.

Child Protection Services Director Steve Libreri.

Almost 180 abuse reports a month

The Child Protection Services, within support agency Appoġġ, receives almost 180 child abuse referrals a month, Libreri said.

These range from reports of physical, sexual or psychological abuse as well as neglect.

All the reports were investigated, with about 50% requiring continued child protection intervention that could include a treatment, supervision or care order.

The majority of referrals were made by concerned third parties. Even though private citizens are not obliged to report abuse, as from March this year,  professionals who work with children are, under the Minor Protection Act.

Libreri says that speaking up is vital as, through his 13 years of experience, cases of children reporting their own abuse were “extremely rare”.

The importance of reporting abuse was highlighted in a recent case in which the appeals court confirmed an eight-year jail sentence for a man who subjected his seven-year-old son to a life of sex, beatings, pornography, prostitution and drugs.

The case had been flagged to Appoġġ by two prostitutes.

“This is the perfect case study that shows the benefits of a person, who has no link with a child, speaking up,” he said.

While the majority of reports stemmed from genuine concern, there were cases when reports were malicious. This sometimes happened in the case of parental alienation, a phenomenon where a parent turns the child against the other parent.

“Parental alienation is being over reported,” Libreri said.

“People need to report responsibly as each case is investigated... a malicious report wastes 60 days of a social worker’s time.”