Three children relocated from their home on Christmas Day amid claims of mistreatment are being assessed by child protection services, Times of Malta has learned.

The outcome will determine if the case will be referred to the police for further action.

The children were removed from the care of their parents and are now in state care after a public appeal by their school’s rector, who alleged they had been mistreated and neglected for at least four months. 

In the run-up to Christmas, the Valletta school went public with the children’s difficulties at home and urged the authorities and Prime Minister Robert Abela to intervene and have them removed sooner rather than later.

The Foundation for Social Welfare Services responded shortly after that, saying that placements had been found for the three children with non-governmental entities that work in the social care field.

It is understood that social services were aware of the case and that placements had already been lined up for the children, however, they had been scheduled to take place during the week after Christmas.

Generous donations of gifts and toys ensured the three children were able to have a good Christmas in spite of the situation

The assessment includes a thorough inventory of their general well-being.

In the meantime, sources in the social care field said the children were able to spend Christmas in the company of other children and were included in pre-planned celebrations at the institutions they were placed in.

The case triggered an outpouring of concern and solidarity from the public, the sources said, and generous donations of gifts and toys ensured the three children were able to have a good Christmas in spite of the situation.

In a press release on Friday, the school had said that two of the children often turned up to school hungry, smelling of urine, wearing dirty clothes and that they were afraid to return home at the end of the day.

The college rector also alleged that the children were being locked inside an empty room with no beds or toys and behaved “disturbingly” when given food at school.