Mother's anger at being forced to pay to see son

A Northern-Irish mother in a custody battle with her Maltese ex-husband was outraged when Appoġġ forced her to pay to see her 10-year-old son.The court granted the woman eight hours of supervised access visits per week. But she has to pay Appoġġ €7.50 per hour for supervision after four hours.“I can’t believe they forced me to pay €30 a week to see my own flesh and blood,” she said. Appoġġ said parents granted supervised access visits are provided with free supervision for four hours per week, but have to pay €7.50 for every hour afterwards. The policy was introduced in 2004. The fee covers the costs for the service provision, including administration. Lawyer Veronique Dalli argued, however, that making parents pay to see their child breached human rights. Full story in The Times.