This week a married couple were accused in court of living off the prostitution of their daughter. It appears that the only way the 61-year-old man and his 41-year-old wife could earn a living was by pimping out their teenage child.
When I read about such cases I wonder what hope there ever can be for such children, caught in a vicious cycle of abuse and neglect.
It goes on an on, with girls such as this poor soul getting a raw deal when they are young and then perpetuating the situation by having babies of their own when they are way too immature to deal with them.
Our social services are stretched to the limit. A report issued last year by the Child Protection Unit of Appogg shows that social workers in this department receive an average of 84 new cases per month. The case load of these social workers is on average three to six times that held by child protection social workers in the UK.
Frankly, social workers are struggling to cope with the children they already have in their care. There is no way we can expect them to keep a vigilant eye on society in order to spot vulnerable children and their families and help prevent abuse before it starts – they simply do not have the time or the resources to do so.
Therefore it was a relief to hear that at long last child protection experts have come together and are working on drafting a national policy to improve child protection services.
The key to success is collaboration.
If a mother is arrested for prostitution, for example, someone should automatically start monitoring the children. In a case such as the one that went to court this week there is a good chance that the mother also used to prostitute herself, with her older husband possibly acting as her pimp. When the mum became too long in the tooth to be considered a prime marketable commodity, they turned to their budding asset, their daughter.
Prostitution is just an example. The same applies in cases where parents suffer from mental illness or addictions – when something like that comes to light a social worker should immediately be assigned to the family. The list goes on and on – common sense solutions that would avoid a lot of suffering and pain.
Unfortunately, however, we cannot expect social services to catch all cases of abuse – particularly when the situation is not exactly straightforward. The great majority of Maltese parents would never dream of selling their daughters for money – however the reality is that sometimes parents end up neglecting or even abandoning their children when they are at their most vulnerable, all in the name of honour and religion.
How else would you explain the fact that in this day and age we still need to have a home such as Dar Ġużeppa Debono in Gozo? This is a residential facility where underage teenage mothers-to-be can find shelter. It also runs several support groups and classes for these young mothers, both before and after their child is born.
I am all in favour of support groups for these girls. However why on earth should we need a residential home for pregnant teens? Is it possible that we still live in a time when parents throw out their daughters (and their grandchildren still in the womb) if they get pregnant before marriage?
What are these teenagers supposed to do if they have nowhere to go? These parents may not be selling their daughters for money, but by abandoning them they are putting them at great risk and are guilty of as big a crime. If the poor girl ends up selling herself to feed her child, whose fault will it be?
Would it not be great if these parents would live up to their responsibilities, support their daughters, and free up the beds in homes such as Dar Ġużeppa Debono for those children who really need them? There are hundreds of abused kids on the island who cannot be taken out of an abusive situation because there is nowhere else they can live. Selfish parents who act like outraged medieval bigots when their daughters are in trouble are not only betraying their own offspring, but also these kids in need.
Perceptions in freefall
Malta has once again slipped in the corruption perceptions index published by Transparency International, which measures the perceived level of public-sector corruption in 180 countries and territories around the world.
In 2005 we were 25th, in 2006 we ranked 28th, in 2007 we slipped to 33rd, in 2008 we slid to 36th and in 2009 we tumbled to the 45th position.
Just to give you an idea of how shameful this position is, take into consideration the fact that countries such as Botswana, Taiwan, South Korea, Macau and Costa Rica rank better than us. Citizens in these countries trust the authorities more than we do.
I wonder what ranking we will get next year. When one considers the fact that public confidence has just taken a big battering in the wake of the Auditor General’s report about the Delimara extension, the assumption would be that we will slip even further.
At the rate we’re going we’re lucky if we stay in the top 50.
Looks like the government is not just facing a fiscal deficit, but a trust deficit too.
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