The number of care order requests received by the child protection authorities has grown in recent years, the government said on Wednesday. 

From just 12 applications in 2020, the figure shot up to 36 in 2021. A further 36 applications for care orders have already been submitted so far this year. Since 2020, there have also been over 220 reports involving unaccompanied minors arriving in Malta with adult migrants. 

The figures were supplied during a press conference marking two years since the child protection law came into force.

Addressing the conference, minister Michael Falzon said children should always “come first”, saying this mentality should guide everything that the authorities do.

“It is crucial to keep updating the law because if you have new realities, you need to deal with them. This law was updated twice and we will update it again.

We should always keep one thing in mind… every minor should be able to reach their potential,” Falzon said. 

Since 2020, there have also been over 4,000 reports to the child protection service.

Unveiling the statistics, director of child protection Steve Libreri said the increase in applications could be because of various issues, notably mandatory reporting being introduced and the COVID-19 pandemic.

As from April 2021, professionals working with minors became obliged to report child abuse suspicions.

The Minor Protection Act was passed into law in 2020 following several years of revisions and updates. Farrugia did not exclude the law being updated once again in the future.

Of the reports filed, Libreri said, some 17% do not require any attention and are either fake or untrue.