I trained for the profession of Social Work in the UK and I have been working in the area of children in Out of Home Care for the past 43 years. I started my work in a residential care facility which back then, catered for 130 adolescent boys. Throughout the years we worked hard to change the service from an institutional set-up to family-based care.
ln 1996, I was appointed to set up a new foster care system in Malta. At the time, there were only 29 children placed with foster carers who had no training, no support and no financial help. ln the 20 years that followed, together with my team, I worked hard to establish a good fostering service by introducing new practices, policies, legislation and raising awareness about the need for foster care. Over the span of another 20 years, the number of fostered children/young adults had increased to over 500. The outcomes have been very positive.
At present, I am working with homeless youth. I am also a committee member of the Maltese National Foster Care Association.