MALTA
Gozo News
The Commission for the Safeguarding of Children and Vulnerable Adults, which falls under the responsibility of the Maltese Episcopal Conference, will be made up of five members, the Curia announced today.
These are: Andrew Azzopardi, who will be the Head of the Safeguarding Commission, Dott. Roberta Attard, Dr Kevin Borg, Fr Antoine Farrugia S.D.B and Clarissa Sammut Scerri. Two other persons, Dr Joseph Sammut and Ms Mariella Fenech Pace, will have the role of legal consultant and administrator, respectively.
Andrew Azzopardi is a qualified social worker and specialises in safeguarding children. He worked in the public sector as a practitioner and manager, where he completed complex child protection investigations and worked with asylum-seeking children. He previously worked with the NSPCC where he completed risk assessments and offered therapy in child sexual abuse cases with both victims and sex offenders. More recently he headed the safeguarding investigations team at the Football Association in England. Andrew holds a post graduate degree in international politics and human rights from City University London. Andrew is the Head of the Safeguarding Commission.
Dott. Roberta Attard is a chartered clinical psychologist and social worker with training in Applied Systemic Theory. She has extensive experience in the field of child and adolescent clinical disorders, child psychotherapy, child forensic psychology, child protection and child abuse investigation. Roberta has practiced in a variety of settings specialising in the use of drawings, play, and psychotherapeutic techniques in individual and group psychotherapy with traumatised children and adolescents. She provides supervision and consultation to other professionals and institutions and delivers training workshops focusing on creative ways of working therapeutically with children suffering from psychological, behavioural and social difficulties. She is a full-time lecturer with the Department of Counselling and a consultant for various State boards and State run programs seeking to provide aid to vulnerable minors.
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