“Flimkien" – All together

Maltese society must adapt and consider child care facilities as a priority, the leader of the Maltese Labour Party (MLP) Alfred Sant told a packed child care seminar in Valletta.

Claudette Abela-Baldacchino and Mr. Michael Cohen, Socialist members of the Committee of the Regions, were the organisers of a popular meeting in Malta on child care held on June 10.

The seminar was primarily for local councillors who in Malta are the ones responsible – through local and regional authorities - for child care policies. With strong support from the MLP and its leader Alfred Sant, the seminar received high attention, with organised child care in Malta still in its early stages.

“Even if the Maltese society and therefore also the MLP are still attached to the traditional way of considering family, society is changing rapidly and the open market demands more and more the participation of women in the labour market, which brings with it that today there is not only one model of family, but many, single parents families, families where both of the parents have to work to cope with the financial burden lying upon them. Therefore the Maltese society as a whole must adapt to this new situation and offer those parents who need it, the possibility to profit from child care facilities…” said Dr. Sant “… the local governments who will be the first to have to respond to this ever growing demands will have to consider child care as one of their priorities and work in close collaboration with the central government and the NGO’s to find out solutions adapted to this new Maltese reality. The MLP has always been strongly committed to children and their care, but not being in power for a too long time, made the child care situation remain stuck in its very baby shoes”.

Thanks to Maltese Socialist members of the Committee of the Regions, the PES child care campaign has brought the discussion on child care to the public’s attention. Even if many families in Malta still prefer mothers or other family members to take care of the children, more and more women need child care for their professional life and this is becoming not only a social issue, but an issue of economic growth as many women cannot participate in the economy because of the lack of suitable child care facilities.

The seminar was one of the first occasions when child care has been formally addressed and debated with so many people in local government and local councils in Malta.

It is clear the the PES child care campaign, and the presence of international guests at the seminar - such as Anna Karamanou from Greece and Elina Lehto from Finland – has brought the issue home to councillors in Malta and will have a lasting impact.