Court intervention in 'freeing' the child from parental rights

Abstract

During the course of my thesis, I started off by referring to the situation in Europe regarding the concept of the child from the Middle Ages till modern times. The introduction outlines the changes which took place over the years. In the following chapter, I referred to the grounds for terminating parental rights available under the Maltese law, and compared them to some of the grounds available under various states in the US. In chapter two, I discussed the implications of a care order. As far as Looked After Children are concerned, I compared residential care with foster care and showed how foster care is more beneficial for the child. In chapter four, I briefly referred to the role of the court in dealing with adoption proceedings. Various interviews were carried out in order to help me identify the situation regarding children placed in residential and foster care. Throughout the course of my case studies, I became aware of the fact that the courts are reluctant to terminate parental rights unless a permanent placement is available for the child. I realized that although Act IV of 2008 brought about very important changes, there are still some other concerns that need to be tackled. The concluding chapter includes my proposals for certain changes that the legislator should take heed of.