Naomi Bellotti

Currently employed at the Correctional Services Agency, the social work role includes supporting service-users during their incarceration, whereby they are detained on preventive custody awaiting trial or serving a prison term. Duties include linking the service-users with available internal and/or external community services and resources to address their social issues revolving around children's access and child protection concerns, familial problems, disability issues, accommodation, financial services, and psychological and psychiatric interventions. Such duties include the making of referrals, professional meetings, case consultations, and supporting the client throughout these processes. Additionally, the role includes supporting service-users to adjust in a new structured and controlled setting, thus educating the client through rules and procedures at prison. Lastly, conducting assessments when the service-users are eligible for parole. This includes a deeper understanding of the clients from childhood through their adulthood, and underlying motives surrounding their criminal offence(s).

Following restructuring amongst different Directorates and services within FSWS, I was employed with Court Services under the Directorate for Child Protection Services. The social work experience was more specialised, whereby service-users were involuntary referred from the Family Court. Duties included conducting social work assessments by overseeing the family in a holistic manner as well as their connections with the community and the environment; making recommendations and providing expert witnessing to the Court; liaising with internal and external agencies including authorities such as The Malta Police Force, and professionals from other disciplines like lawyers, medical professionals, educators, and psychologists amongst others; and supporting and monitoring the clients in their parenting skills, styles, behaviours, strengths, limitations, and needs as required. Special interest was invested in cases of parental alienation and co-parenting methods.

My social work career started at Court & Supervised Access Visits Service. At the time, the service was under the Directorate of Aġenzija Appoġġ. Before splitting the services, the role was similar with regards to court related work while later becoming more specialised. Other social work duties during this period entailed conducting assessments to determine needs, strengths and limitations for both care and court order cases requiring supervised access visits; facilitating supervised visits; as well as liaising with team members, internal professionals, and external entities.