Labour magistrate and Super-One-crowd ‘socialite’ Consuelo Herrera’s 22-year-old law student daughter has been appointed to the Adoption Board
The new member of the Adoption Board (centre), wearing a police cap she might have found running around at home.
Here’s the official notice of the Adoption Board appointments:
No. 695
ADOPTION ADMINISTRATION ACT, 2008 (CAP. 495)
Adoption Board
IT is hereby notified for general information that in exercise of the powers conferred by Article 3 of the Adoption Administration Act, and for the purpose of that Act, the Minister for the Family and Social Solidarity has appointed the Adoption Board, for a period of two years with effect from the 24th May 2013, as follows:
Chairperson
Mr Ivan Grech Mintoff
Members
Notary Cherylann Aquilina
Ms Joyce Cassar
Dr Ruth Farrugia
Ms Connie Griffiths Bianchi
Ms Cynthia Pace Axiaq
Ms Justine Scerri Herrera
Mr Joseph Vella
Secretary
Ms Nadya Hansen
30th July, 2013
So, if you want to adopt a child, Consuelo Herrera’s seriously immature daughter is going to be privy to your private affairs. And exactly how is a 22-year-old, extremely silly law student best placed to consider and decide such serious matters?
Even if she were a 22-year-old with gravitas that appointment would be wholly inappropriate. People that age don’t have the life experience they need to make the right decisions about other people’s situations and suitability for adoption.
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Leave Malta. What a joke of a place it is becoming. Even Zimbabwe looks good in comparison.
I was trying to get Harry to adopt me. Will this scupper my plans?
Let me talk to her, Baxxter. Once I describe the combined, long term potential, I’m convinced she will instantly agree.
What a mess. What was the minister thinking?
You are assuming that the Minister was actually thinking about the mandate of the Adoption Board when he appointed the members. Clearly he was not.
The Minister for the Family and Social Solidarity is a she. Her name is Marie Louise Coleiro Preca.
If the minister thinks that’s fine. I am beginning to believe that some of this government’s ministers lack that faculty.
About his friends, Dez.
He clearly wasn’t, and what’s new. Give me one decision over the last five months that was well thought out.
Wasn’t Joyce Cassar the intellectual sidekick to the even more intellectual Lino Sant in that ghastly Super One late-night intellectual “programm kulturali”.
In one programme, she had acted out a moving monologue, a sort humungous rant against men, where the whole point was that, and I quote, “l-irgiel huma mmexxija minn bicca laham qisha zalzetta.”
See, who said there’s nothing worth watching on Super One?
REDIKOLI !
She clearly knew what she was talking about :)
Ara vera dehlin go hajt. A 22 year old law student appointed on any board is ridiculous. What experience does she have.
Nahseb li kollha zghar fl-eta ghax anke n-Nutar Cherylann Aquilina, kostitwenta ta’ Ministru Preca minn Hal Qormi hija ta’ xi 25 sena.
I don’t know who that person in that photo is. However, whoever that person is, they are guilty of a contravention of the law, if that hat is actually a police hat (to me it seems that it is http://www.angelfire.com/home/gnomad/malta.JPG)
Cap 10 of the Criminal Code of Malta
PART III , OF CONTRAVENTIONS AND PUNISHMENTS
Title I , OF CONTRAVENTIONS
Sub-title I
338. Every person is guilty of a contravention against public order, who –
(o) without permission, or against the prohibition of the respective authorities, wears any civil, naval, military or air force uniform, or any ecclesiastical habits or
vestments;
Malta’s Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland had resigned from his post in 2007 just because of reports in the press that his son was just a suspect in a criminal investigation.
If it is true that this is indeed Justice Scerri Herrera’s daughter, she should also resign based on this similar precedent, so as to safeguard the respect that the people should have for the judiciary.
It’s too late for Magistrate Herrera to safeguard people’s respect for the judiciary. You could ask several policemen about why.
Maybe she’s on “familiar” terms with the police. It’s been known to happen, hasn’t it?.
hahaha….funnnyyyyyy
Daphne, she has to learn and we have to pay.
Also, there is a new definition of meritocracy which only a few can understand.
It is not “we” who “has to pay” – it is the prospective adoptees, whose lives may be f*cked up by an immature 22-year-old.
It must have been very quick for Justine Scerri Herrera to find a police hat. All she had to do was look on the back seat of her mum’s car and choose any one that fit.
How convenient, a sofa critic who spurts out such disrespectful comments in her regard. This from someone who styles himself as ‘edgar’. I would love to see this blog’s posts with the real names of the people posting them. I bet there would be a couple of surprises.
[Daphne – It’s his real name, Richard, you would be surprised to know. And it’s armchair critic, not sofa. Also, Edgar is right. These are people we know from real life, not Facebook, hence we know what we’re talking about. If this young woman had any sense of self-respect or self-awareness, she would not have accepted the role even when it was thrust on her. She would have known that she is not suitable, by dint of her age as well as everything else, and she would also have had some pride in not accepting something she got only because of her mother. But she appears to be, alas, her mother’s creature in more ways than one. And sadly, she does not seem to understand that whereas until now she was protected from comment as a private citizen, regardless of her mother’s escapades and appalling behaviour, for which she cannot be blamed, she has now made a public official of herself, by accepting a position on a board which actually DEMANDS public scrutiny because it deals with such sensitive matters.]
I see you’ve beaten me to it, but I was a bit more discreet …
Just when you think Labour has hit rock bottom, it suddenly gets even worse.
If we had Nikita Alamango on the Water Services board , why all this fuss?
She’s Nikita Zammit. Her mother is an Alamango.
There is ONLY one proper psychologist (recognized as a competent professional) on the board: Dr. Ruth Farrugia.
The singular appointment of Ms. Justine Scerri Herrera to the board is utterly amoral and socially irresponsibe. It vitiates the professional function of the entire adoption process.
Apparently, the majority of the appointments to the board are based purely on political criteria, in an arena where politics should be entirely absent for objective assessments.
Professional and/or mature life experience and expertise specifically in matters of adoption is the first essential criteria, inclusive (not exclusively) of psychology, social work, and proper legal experience.
Isn’t Dr. Ruth Farrugia a lawyer?
As far as I know Dr Farrugua is a family law specialist and not a psychologist.
There’s also a paediatrician called Dr Ruth Farrugia.
Yes–I have identified the wrong person, also Dr. Ruth Farrugia, a conscientious psychologist, who used to inhabit the University of Malta in the 1990s.
And what about Ivan Grech Mintoff – Dom’s nephew? Ajma hej.
Ivan Grech Mintoff owns a computer business, but he adopted children. Connie Bianchi is a rough woman who heads Marie Louise Coleiro’s customer care office.
Please Lord let this be a case of mistaken identity and let’s be told that there s another Ms Justine Scerri Herrera out there with the right qualifications and experience to take on this sensitive post.
If not, God help those whose happiness and well being will have to depend on the new Boards decisions.
Not to mention the many children’s lives that are potentially at stake.
At least, there’s Dr Ruth Farrugia, who’s an expert on family matters and who should really be chairing the board. How is it possible that a fresh graduate like Notary Cheryl Ann Aquilina can be considered to have the required experience?
Taghna Lkoll! Taghna Lkoll!
I know Justine personally and she is not immature or silly! As any other 22 year old does she likes to go out and socialise.. Big deal! She is an intelligent girl who knows what she wants in life! Also not that it matters but this photo is definitely not recent as her hair hasn’t been that colour for a while now!
The photo can’t be that old – unless she looks a lot older than she is. And the issue is that at 22, she shouldn’t have been appointed on this particular board. It’s a board which requires as a minimum mature people with some life experience who know what they are doing. I was a relatively mature 22 year old but I don’t think I was able to contribute the work of such a board nor did I want to as I was mature enough to recognise my limitations.
[Daphne – The photo is not old at all. It’s ‘old’ from the perspective of somebody aged 22, when three or four years is ‘ages’.]
Sigh. And what, pray, is the colour of her hair nowadays?
So speaks an equally immature, silly friend of Justine Scerri Herrera.
It is not a matter of knowing what one wants in life, Valentina. The fact that Justine Scerri Herrera accepted the appointment is evidence of her immature outlook. How, exactly, is a 22-year old student, with only limited work experience, qualified to decide on adoption cases?
It’s interesting that you mentioned her social life. No one else did.
…and yet her life experience or lack of it, disqualifies her from the position.
Personally, I am more concerned about Grech Mintoff. He stalks Bocca’s blog obsessively and is rarely coherent. These are not desirable qualities for a board chairperson required to take potentially subjective decisions that will influence the lives of many children and their foster parents.
Nice try, Valentina.
Valentina, the point is neither about intelligence nor clear career goals.
Justine may be the greatest person on earth with the best of intentions and the keenest of minds. Yet, at 22, she is absolutely unfit for the position on this particular board.
She does not have the experience, qualifications, wisdom and responsibility to be able to decide the fate of children up for adoption.
As you say, she is a “girl.” If I were convinced of her capabilities I would have used the word ‘woman.’ Further I wouldn’t even mention the colour of her hair which only goes to show what being a 22 year old is about: being engrossed in oneself trying to figure out one’s place in the world as an adult.
I do not mean this as an insult – we all passed through that and it is part of the beauty of youth.
Wow. So it’s OK then. She has all the credentials to be appointed to the Adoptions Board.
The fact that she’s the Magistrate’s daughter and Parliamentary Secretary’s niece did not factor into the selection.
Valentina, how old are you? I hazard a guess. 22. Correct? Correct.
You are in no position to judge – you have zero clue what maturity and immaturity is. You’re just a silly girl, friends with someone whose silly mum embarrasses herself and lives with somebody 10 years her junior, who has a wife and child elsewhere. Please don’t tell me you are intelligent for mixing with such craziness.
What does responsibility have to do with such appointments? I would expect the criteria for these matters to be expertise in the given field and not maturity or otherwise.
The issue here is that this person is not qualified or even experience
*experienced to hold such a post. What does she know about adoptions? How can she possibly give advice on the subject?
Jaqaw int wahda minn tal-klikka taghha u qed taqbez ghaliha?
Ghada halib ommha fis-sniena dik u ma ghandi ir-rekwiziti necessarji biex tkun fuq board tal-adozzjoni.
Of course, how silly! She’s blonde now – https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152741602675627&set=pb.887100626.-2207520000.1375371921.&type=3&theater
Does it matter that the photo isn’t recent?
No student, of any course, should be on a government board. Mature or immature, at 22 no one has the necessary experience. That is built over the years. What might also help is being involved in student organisations where one learns how to deal with being part of a group of people with differing opinions.
No one is saying she shouldn’t go out and socialise, but there are things you can do and things you shouldn’t do, like wearing a policeman’s hat.
I see and in your view, she is mature enough and wise enough to be able to understand the need of a child as it is being adopted and the needs and appropriatness of the family adopting the child.
I was an extremely mature and not silly girl at her age (and whilst I also liked to go out and socialise, I was mature enough to realise that posing with a police hat and a cigarette in my mouth, whilst looking completely wasted would at some point bite me in the arse), but I certainly would never have presumed to have the maturity to know when a child should be adopted and if the family adopting the child was right choice for that child.
What a shame and what a mess! What were they thinking?
I think the only roadmap Labour had was the roadmap to Girgenti, fashion shows and social climbing events (next up: August Moon Ball for sure) ghax minghajha ma kienux jaslu zgur.
ooo, do you think Joseph is going to twist his ankle again to get out of dancing?
I could be wrong but isn’t IT Ivan Grech Mintoff’s field of expertise? Guess the tears he shed at his distant relative’s funeral were worth it after all.
Yes. http://www.b2match.com/futurematch/profiles/3882
Yes he is – actually he was his uncle – his mother’s brother
I disagree.
Having someone on the board who is the product of a broken home could have its advantages.
I come from a broken home.. Do you see me up there ?
Not really. It can leave a very jaded and bitter view, with little experience as to what family life is all about
How ridiculous. How can a 22 year old have experience to decide on such delicate matters!
A 22-year old has no place whatsoever on the adoption board, let alone a 22-year-old who comes from such a bad background and who grew up in the sort of environment which guarantees that she has no idea what makes for a suitable parent, whether adoptive or not. That kind of insight might come with time, but certainly not when she is still so close to home.
Everyone, especially in Malta, always complains that things are being run by old people and that new fresh minds need to be on boards such as these. Did you ever think that they are getting people from all walks of life (a young mind, a pyschologist, someone whos been adopted, someone whos adopted and so on) – Since when do we judge people by their surname – God give the girl a chance to prove herself before you all go placing judgement – Also ‘Mandy’, who are you to say she had a ‘bad background’ – Unless you know her very personally or lived in her household for a number of years, you should think before speaking.
[Daphne – Your comment is ridiculous and reveals just why you can’t be 22 and sit on a board like that (I have no doubt you are one of her friends). You really have no idea at all. All walks of life? What is this – a fair or a sideshow? On boards, especially a board that deals with adoptions, you don’t have ‘people from all walks of life’. You have specialists. Assessing people for adoption has nothing to do with a democratic vote. Grow up. I had two children of my own at 22, but still I would have known that I was nowhere near suitable or qualified to decide whether people much older than I was could adopt other people’s children. Your defence of this decision is an illustration of your immaturity. It is not always commendable to defend a friend. Sometimes, it’s best to give your advice to the contrary, and point out where they’re going wrong.]
Referring to Justine Scerri Herrera as a girl does her no favours. Membership of an adoption board is for grown up women with specialised expertise, not girls who need their friends’ support when they are justifiably criticized.
Disgrace u imsieken it-tfal li iridu jghaddu minn taht idejhom.
Possibbli li hadd mhu qed iddejjqu din is-sitwazzjoni. Fejn huma l-ghaqdiet ghall protezjoni tat-tfal?
Fejn hi l-Caritas? Kemm waqghet fil-muta dawn l-ahhar xhur!
And what about the chairperson? Taghna Lkoll.
Dr. Ruth Farrugia must be so pleased.
Lecturing the student on matters relating to matrimonial regimes and family law on one day, and sitting with the same student on the Adoption Board the next.
You just couldn’t make it up.
Dr Ruth Farrugia is the only qualified person on that board. She has been dealing with family law issues for almost thirty years and should be the one appointed as chairperson.
This is was a farce but is becoming a tragedy. Families who go through the adoption process deserve to be treated with utmost respect, sensitivity and professionalism.
It is not just about the organisational and safety issues, but also the social and psychological aspects for both parents and child. Thus, members of such a board should not only be competent in the sense of qualifications but also have experience in life and in a relevant profession, such as, family law, social work, family therapy, psychotherapy, etc.
I honestly do not see what the problem is with a 22 year old being on the adoption board, you would need a mix of youth and older people to make such decision, and anyone who knows justines knows that she is an intelligent and passionate young woman, and instead of commending her on wanting to make a difference in peoples lifes you go digging up a photo from when she was 17 at a fancy dress party and try to portray her as being something she is not. She trying to do some good in other peoples lifes, i suggest you start trying to do the same.
Youth is not a qualification. It is a phase of life best dedicated to exploration and experimentation, just not with other people’s lives.
This is a joke, so just because an innocent 17 year old takes a few funny snaps in carnival , this is the result? The photo being used in such a different way… Strange.
Then Minister Godfrey Farrugia said that a bioethicist is not qualified for the IVF Board and removed him.
Daqs kemm jghid hmerijiet dak! Biex qed tiskanta, kram?
Let me start by stating that I don’t know this person (JSH) from Adam and that I, like any other normal citizen am dead worried about what the Scerri Herrerra / Musumeci / Micallef combination can do to the functioning and reputation of our country.
However, for accuracy, I think you should state if that photo is the current JSH or a picture from some years ago. Following your post, I Googled her name and the picture I saw was a bit different from the one you posted.
I know that we are all responsible for our past actions, but I think we need also to understand that this generation is being brought up in world where every action is captured on video, Fejsbuk blog, etc., with the added handicap that they did not receive adequate guidance on the use and misuse of these new tools by the ‘elders’ because the grownups were, and still are, making a complete dog’s breakfast of the social network tool.
We all did silly things to some degree or other in our youth and our saving grace was that Polaroid pictures thankfully fade very quickly!
[Daphne – That photograph was on Facebook precisely three years ago. Hardly aeons, Someone, and if it seems like aeons to Miss Scerri Herrera, then that’s because she’s 22. It does not seem like aeons to anyone of an age appropriate for considering serious adoption issues. “We all did silly things to some degree or other in our youth” – exactly, which is why, in our youth, governments should not be placing us on Adoption Boards – precisely because we do silly things at that age.]
I don’t dispute your reasoning about her being or not being suitable for the role. In fact, I think you’re right as I would imagine that beyond any possible relevant required academic background, you would ideally also have a level of life experience which just isn’t there at 22.
You did clear out the age of that picture and I think its important to be accurate as it would go towards cementing the reputation of this blog as one of the sole remaining sources of real reporting in what is fast becoming a great big mess!
I do not feel like looking into this because one does not need to study every minute detail of what this government is doing in order to know that it is wrong, but what are the usual pre-requisites for being on a board of this nature?
One would think some form of studies in Psychology or family matters as well as many years of experience would be required. At least I know that in Italy this is the case, otherwise what is the point of having a board. I am not a scientist so why put me on a board to evaluate cases?
I write this to all those who thought that voting Labour last March would be a great idea because we needed the change.
In all honesty, is there anyone of you really reading the writing on the wall?
How can anyone in his/her right senses approve of something as scandalous as this?
A 22-year-old STUDENT with a big say in a board for something as important, with access to such private personal issues, as this.
What’s done is done, but at least be brave enough to publicly condemn these follies by the party in government who after all you helped get elected.
From bad to NIGHTMARE!
More like from the frying pan into the fire, into the white hot charcoal.
I know Justine personally she has worked very hard and will prove herself to be a worthy member of the adoption board ! How about some encouragement for today’s youths ??
[Daphne – There are two questions you should be asking, whether you know and like her or not (knowing her and liking her are both utterly irrelevant): 1. Does anybody at all, aged 22, have the life experience and maturity required to decide on serious issues related to adoption? At 22 I might have, like you, thought with the arrogance that comes from youth and the belief that we know it all at that age, that yes, of course. At 48, I shudder thinking how little we do in fact know at that age, and worse, how oblivious we are to our lack of knowledge. 2. If being 22 and a hard worker at university is indeed considered an appropriate qualification for dealing with adoption issues on the government’s adoption board, why was Justine Herrera selected and not any of the thousands of other hardworking people in their early 20s? And there you have your answer. I repeat: whether you know and like her or not is COMPLETELY irrelevant. A person can be suitable for the post even if you neither know them nor like them.]
I’m just one year older than Justine, and I don’t totally agree with this appointment.
From my experience (and that of those around me involved in such issues) I know there’s a significant gap between what we’re taught at university and the nitty-gritty of processes of everyday work/life.
Adoption’s an especially tricky issue, so appointing her after a year or two experience in family matters would definitely have made much more sense.
Mz, the issue here is not whether Justine Scerri Herrera will prove herself a worthy member. The issue here is that at the age of 22 the serious and delicate matter of adoption and the psychological difficulties which parents go through when they finally decide to adopt, as well any possible issues of infertility that lead them to take this step (for the greater part), are all simply too far removed from the day to day reality of a 22 year old.
Encouragement for today’s youths does not mean speeding up the natural process of gaining experience first, before being appointed to certain posts. Can you imagine appointing a judge at the age of anything less than at least 35? Or voting to elect a 25 year old Prime Minister? I guess not.
[Daphne – ‘Can you imagine appointing a judge at the age of anything less than at least 35?’ An unfortunate comparison, given that the last Labour government, in 1997, made this young lady’s mother a magistrate at the age of 32.]
Daphne, your clarification emphasizes the gravity of the step taken by to-day’s Labour government in appointing the then 32 year old’s daughter to the adoption board.
‘Justine Scerri Herrera will prove herself a worthy member’
And what if she doesn’t? How many lives will she have wrecked in the meantime?
You don’t experiment with people’s lives. I wouldn’t trust a 22 year old with the adoption of a puppy or kitten, let alone that of a child.
Sometimes I hanker for the old mentality of children being ‘seen but not heard’. It gave them some proper perspective of their place and importance in society until such a time when experience, responsibility and knowledge gave some guidance to their exuberance and energy.
You are right Daphne, I saw the magistrate attenting a fatal accident enquiry accompanied by her assistant years ago.
We thought the assistant was the magistrate and the other female was the, well, a joy rider at best.
It turned out to be the reverse.
The magistrate wore a miniskirt of miniature proportions, while her assistant wore a dark trouser suit.
We all had a good laugh amid the comments passed by the various persons present.
[Daphne – Clearly not Magistrate Herrera, as the miniskirt would not have been of miniature proportions.]
Nothing to do with ‘working very hard’. The job requires a type of discretion and sensitivity that occasionally comes with age and life experience.
[Daphne – Yes, exactly, and her friends are doing her no favours by writing in to defend her, because in doing so they display the very immaturity and lack of insight which we are talking about here as rendering any person unsuitable for that post at that age. The assumption we then make is that she has the same mentality and reasoning skills, and imagine her faced with the problems of a couple who can’t have their own children and are trying to adopt.]
You are calling people who care for her and sticking up for immature, while you are digging up old photos of her when she was 17 and at a carnival party, and making her out to be something she isn’t. You don’t know anything about this girl so you’re really not in the position to be making judgments on her personality and maturity.
[Daphne – “You don’t know anything about this girl”. I’m afraid you couldn’t be more wrong. But you miss the point that no 22-year-old is suitable for deciding whether older couples can adopt. At 22, you are not even allowed to adopt children yourself. THAT is the first point. The second point is that she was appointed to the board because her mother is the prime minister’s chum, which is wrong. How many 22-year-old students are there in Malta? Exactly right.]
And in any case this ‘worked very hard’ business is highly annoying. Most young people in Malta have it good (a kind of collective silver spoon) and I shouldn’t imagine that a magistrate’s daughter would be an exception.
In fact Muscat has a novel way of dealing with people who actually do ‘work very hard’. He threatens to send them to Libya.
The one about her hair being different now made me feel a bit embarrassed to be honest.
Justine Scerri Herrera’s feelings have hurt so her friends are rushing to her defense. These are the tactics of the schoolyard.
If Justine feels she has been unfairly criticized, she can claim her right to reply and tell us why her appointment is justified.
Actually this is not encouragement. It might seem so at the moment but I think it is ultimately throwing her at the deep end.
I lost count of the silly things I did when I was 22. At that age, it is normal to be daft and do daft things. And that’s why an adoption board is no place for somebody aged 22.
There doesn’t seem to be a psychologist on the board. That’s quite an omission.
When considering that the only bioethicist was removed the IVF board, this hardly seems surprising.
Is it protocol to have women with an “Ms” salutation or are they all single?
It’s protocol.
22-year olds, however bright and hard-working, have no place on such a board.
Moreover, not one of the appointees is a psychologist or a social worker. Whoever is responsible for these appointments messed up quite badly.
One of the worst performers so far has been Owen Bonnici. His greatest achievement so far has been losing his chief of staff in a couple of weeks.
Malta Taghna Lkoll disintegrating.
Is this the same Joyce Cassar who was part of the anti-divorce movement? How in-appropriate!
http://news.sky.com/story/1123079/thatcher-blocked-hagues-treasury-job-in-1983
With a lack of incompetent people on the board, there is a real risk of unwise and unjust decisions being taken. The children to be adopted and the adoptive parents could suffer tremendously because of this.
Sorry, just noted a mistake … I meant to say “lack of competent people”…
1. Even if, at the age of 22, she were mature and capable enough to form part of such a board, I’m sure that there are several other candidates who are older and more experienced than her to take up such a post. Therefore, in keeping with the so-called ‘meritocracy’, there is absolutely no way that she is a better candidate than other, older people.
2. Her surname and immediate family relations are what put her there, no doubt.
3. In light of point 2, if I were her, I would be both embarrassed and reluctant to take up such a post, purely and simply because, being someone of a similar age, I know full well that such criticism and ridicule from the general public would follow. And might I add, this very criticism is more than justified.
4. I’m sure she anticipated all this criticism, and the fact that she took up the post anyway is further proof that a person like her does not belong on any such board.
There is no place on this sort of board for a 22-year-old whether she is silly or not.
This is just the latest of the daily disasters of this government since the 10th of March.
I am more than three times this girl’s age.
For half a century I have been involved closely with fellow humans, very often in the deep end of things.
In my old age I have learnt to appreciate more and more the value of the Socratic paradox.
When I was 22 I would certainly have pooh-poohed it.
Might be off-topic, but look what the DOI are doing now http://gov.mt/en/Government/DOI/Pages/DOI%20Art%20Competition/DOI-Art-Competition.aspx
“Open government”, especially with these kind of appointments.
(Apart from the fact that the gov.mt site now looks like shite)
There must be hundreds of young and not-so-young lawyers, including many pro-Labour, who must feel cheated. For the PL government, their warrant and years experience count for nothing. Government chose a law student, not for her abilities, but because of her mother and uncle. Meritocracy at its best!
Similarly there are other professionals, like psychologists and social workers, who feel they are better placed to give a meaningful contribution to the Board. And yet…
How sweet, they have created the perfect part-time job for students.
It seems Government Boards are now prefect training grounds for students, especially those ‘ta gewwa’. Will this young lady’s friends be awarded a role on other boards of their choice too?
Being a member of a government board is definitively a better part-time role for any student than part-time waitressing. It is also an opportunity to earn a few other thousand euros in addition to the University stipend whilst simultaneously learning that typical Maltese trait of making the most gain of minimal effort.
Come-on students, start applying. ‘kollox possibli ma Joseph’
The only gynaecologist, and not bioethicist, was removed from the IVF Authority (not just a Board). Subsequently, all the members were replaced.
And why do women outnumber men on this board ? Do men/ fathers have no say on this issue ?
Ironic!
While Ms Scerri Herrera cannot adopt, because she is beneath the legal age, she is expected to determine the “eligibility and suitability or otherwise of a prospective adoptive parent” (role of the Adoption Board according to art 4 (1)b of the Adoption Administration Act.
In fact article 115. (1)a of the Civil Code states that “an adoption decree shall not be made unless the applicant or, in the case of a joint application, one of the applicants has attained the age of twenty-eight years and is at least twenty one years older but not more than forty-five years older than the person to be adopted”.
Viva l-Labour.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2382260/Margaret-Thatcher-vetoed-Treasury-job-William-Hague-21-dismissing-gimmick.html
I believe that to be on such a board one must be a mature person with some experience.
Adoption is an important issue. To withhold or grant permission for an adoption is a serious matter that carries lifelong consequences for the couple and the child.
Ultimately the responsibility rests on the selection board of the members.
That’s what you get when you elect a bunch of nitwits to govern a country.
What can a 22 year old student know about serious decisions on such serious matters ?
Why is the PM tweeting about tonight’s concert? Has he become promoter? Does he not have any affairs of state to attend to?
http://tinypic.com/r/2s1b0nn/5
Surely the Commissioner for Children and Appogg should issue a statement on the matter?
This must be a big joke, or at least I sure hope so. Come on, enough is enough!
The post will serve her CV.
The poor girl will have to watch her public behaviour.
The girl better get through the rest of her course now.
And will the girl be remunerated for sitting on the board?
Zucchero was here for a concert organised by private business. But he was met at the airport by a government representative.
Good one:
“He said the previous Government did not invest enough in the department but this Government was committed to do so and also wanted to make sure workers were happy with their conditions.
……
The cars unveiled were ordered for €120,000 by the previous Government.”
http://www.timesofmalta.com/mobile/view/20130801/local/cpd.480425
As a person who has recently gone through the whole adoption process, I read this appointment with a mixture of disgust and incredulity.
How can the government show such brashness by appointing a 22 year old to a board where such delicate matters are decided?
A 22 year old may think that he or she is now an adult and needs no one to tell them what to do – but the reality is that a 22 year old has little or no emotional intelligence, lacks maturity and the sensitivity and respect for professional secrecy that a post on this board requires.
Going through the process I often felt rather annoyed at how you practically have to bare body and soul for the board to decide if you are fit to become a parent or not.
Amongst other things, you have to be psychologically assessed, undergo medical tests and give your medical history, list your assets and liabilities, have someone check out your home and be interviewed by a social worker who then presents his findings (and photos of your home) to the board.
While being examined under a microscope, I derived scant consolation from the fact that the board was at least composed of established professionals who dealt mainly with family issues and who were all older than my husband and I.
THEIR life experience and professional knowledge we hoped, would allow them to cut to the quick, give the green light or ask for more details and clarification depending on each case.
My heart is heavy for those who will now have to be reviewed by this board.
I teach 22-year old law students in the UK.
Unlike most of their Maltese counterparts, the majority of my students do not live with their parents; they know what it means to make ends meet; they know what it means not to; they have held down jobs; they have been taught to think, to be critical.
I literally shudder at the thought of my most intelligent, responsible students facing decisions about whether somebody should be able to adopt.
Actually, I shudder at the thought of taking that sort of decision myself.
Good luck Justine – not for your sake, but for that of the children and parents whose lives you might destroy in ways that you obviously lack the empathy to even imagine.
I am a 22-year old with personal experience vis-a-vis adoption (being an adoptee myself), not to mention the fact that I am also currently studying law; and I wouldn’t even appoint myself to the board given the chance.
Not because I am not interested in the matters revolving around adoption (on the contrary), but because these are extremely sensitive issues that must be dealt with by expertise, experience and knowledgeable insight about adoption law, psychology and sociological matters.
Dr Ruth Farrugia and Ms Justine Scerri Herrera sitting at a par on the same board? What on earth?
Rather than poke political fun at the matter (as would be the expected gist of things given that we live in Malta), I’d be more concerned about the board’s competence and its future.
Froġa par excellence.
You can’t separate the politics from the personal in this case. The only reason Justine Scerri Herrera was appointed was because political affiliations were prioritised over professional experience.
Definitely, but let us concern ourselves with the board’s competence rather than PN Vs PL as is the unfortunate norm.
Well..it is time for the summer carnival. How cheap and pathetic our administration has become.
Hmmm, I was 22 myself not that terribly long ago and I don’t recall ever making the mistake of thinking I would look rock’n’roll if I dangled a cigarette out of my mouth like that.
And I was, unfortunately, a heavy smoker back in the day.
Well, I suppose it takes a little bit of class and taste to know these things instinctively. Not a good look, dear.
Judges in Germany are appointed younger than 32/35 years, they go through examinations for this appointment, and do not expect a political appointment.. So age does not matter
On another note.
Manwel Mallia has yet again changed his version of how he got the Eur500,000 stashed away at home. We are expected to believe that they were not really from the sale of property but, lo and behold, from forty years of hard labour.
So I wonder, by the end of 2007 he had on average the equivalent of Eur375,000 in the old currency before Malta joined the eurozone on January 1st 2008. How, where and who converted this money for him? Why did he lie in the first place?
Justine Scerri Herrera should keep up. Cigarettes have long been the antithesis of coolness.
Our astute PM found a way how to keep the Scerri Herreras and people in their circles happy/occupied/mesmerized without giving them enough power to undermine the government.
Unfortunately these people have control on every aspect of our life. Thank you, Joe.
One shudders to think what would happen to us if we were not european by the time Joe reached his pinnacle.
If being raised by Consuelo Herrera qualifies the 22 year old to decide on the faith of couples desperately trying to adopt a baby, then dating the daughter of l-Imniehru should suffice to appoint Jeremy Portelli to a Police Selection Board or something similar.
It is pretty obvious that the prime Minister has lost control of his cabinet and of his party immediately after 36,000 plus voters decided to give the majority plus of votes to the PL.
I would imagine that in spite of what he is saying in public, he is fully aware of this precarious situation where incompetent persons or others who are not suitably qualified for important posts are receiving appointments that put him to shame.
Unfortunately, his sleepy cabinet is costing him a lot: he has already lost the trust which so many people put into him. He is also proving himself to be inconsistent in various sectors due to his untruthful preachings that ‘Malta (is) Taghna Lkoll.’
You’d think the PR gurus at the PN media House would be having a field day with all this, but no they are all happily slumbering away.
If these things had happened in the days of Dr Gonzi, there would have been no end to the brain washing.
Flok niddispra, ha neqred hawn.
Anglu Farrugia ghadu kif ghamel diskors fuq….id-DRITTIJIET TAL-BNIEDEM.
“the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of even just one man are threatened.” Kwota l-JFK hej.
Ghandi bzonn vodka. u ghadhom l-10.30.
http://gov.mt/en/Government/Press%20Releases/Pages/2013/August/02/pr1658.aspx
Taylor Swift’s song “22” says it all:
“Yeah we’re happy, free, confused and lonely at the same time”
http://www.metrolyrics.com/22-lyrics-taylor-swift.html
And where are the social workers, psychologists, and/or psychotherapists? For crying out loud, this is the Adoption Board.
What message is that to the professionals who deal with these matters day in day out? What a joke…tragic one, at that.
She is in the same course of Robert Musumeci – or a year before… as he is reading law too
A family that studies together stays together.