6 Maltese couples adopting children in India

Family Minister Michael Falzon is aware of at least 6 Maltese couples who have still chosen to go to India to adopt a child, in spite of a devastating Covid-19 wave in the country which has claimed the life of a prospective adoptive father.

47-year-old Ivan Barbara and his wife had travelled to India to adopt a girl last March, but ended up succumbing to Covid-19 in April, before evacuation could be carried out. His widow had also contracted Covid-19, but recovered and has since returned to Malta with the daughter they had adopted.

Maltese COVID-19 patient dies in India before being evacuated

During question time on Tuesday’s parliamentary sitting, Falzon was asked a number of questions on adoption, and revealed that the couples who had gone to India to adopt a child had even asked whether the authorities would stop them.

“But who am I to do so,” Falzon reflected. “You have to be in their shoes.”

Government backbencher Silvio Parnis asked whether any compensation was being provided to the Barbaras to cover the additional expenses that they faced – including medical care – but Falzon said that no such request was made to his ministry. He was not in a position to rule out whether the Foreign Affairs Ministry made any payments.

Falzon recalled that couples who adopt children for overseas are eligible for a €10,000 grant, but noted that in 2019, the allocated budget of €400,000 was swiftly taken up. In contrast, the Covid-19 pandemic left last year’s budgetary allocation unused.

The government has since issued a €1,000 grant for people who adopt locally, he continued, before adding that it was time for Malta to embrace the concept of open adoption – which allows for continued contact between adoptive children and their birth parents.

But he recognised that Malta still needed a culture change when it came to adoption, not least because there was still a degree of taboo about the subject. Another concern, the minister said, was that adoptive parents feared that if their children established contact with their birth parents, they risked losing custody.