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Written by: Golden Chess
2021-04-24 11:59
Last update date: 2021-04-24 11:59
The 5-year-old girl was repeatedly abused by her father and stepmother, and eventually passed away in a coma at home.
Three years after the case, the father and stepmother were sentenced to life in prison for murder.
Huang Cuiling, director-general of the Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse, said today (24th) that the incident revealed many loopholes in the handling of child abuse incidents. It is recommended that the government set up an independent investigation committee to review policies at all levels and improve loopholes.
Huang Cuiling also pointed out that in 2018 and 2019, there were about a thousand child abuse cases, and last year there were about 940 cases.
She emphasized that the situation of child abuse is still serious. The decline in numbers or school closures due to the epidemic has made it more difficult to identify individuals who abused children and cannot provide support.
Huang Cuiling said in a commercial program "Political and Economic Saturday" today that although child abuse cases fell by 6.6% last year, she was worried that the cases were hidden in the community under the epidemic or could not be detected early. She believed that the overall situation of child abuse was still serious: There are flesh and blood stories."
She also pointed out that the Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse has set up a support hotline, which has also increased 11% of enquiries and help cases, including parents expressing difficulties in disciplining their children, conflicts between the two parties, and inquiries about how to deal with children's emotions.
Huang Cuiling emphasized that if a suspected child abuse case is encountered, the association will investigate and strengthen home visits.
Regarding the Law Reform Commission’s proposal to establish a "crime of no protection", it is stipulated that caregivers shall bear legal responsibility for not reporting cases of child abuse.
She welcomes the relevant suggestions and believes that early reporting and intervention can prevent tragedies from happening.
She also suggested that each district set up a family visit plan, where social workers regularly visit single-parent and low-income families to follow up the situation of families in need.
The chairperson of the Legislative Council Panel on Education, Leung Mei-fun, said on the same program: "Should not all eggs be exposed to social workers." He believed that many social workers are very young and with a wide range of work, they may not be suitable for handling long-term child abuse cases. "One school has one social worker." The slogan should also be changed.
She suggested that the government should train more experts in child psychology and psychotherapy to specifically follow up the situation of abused children.
The chairperson of the Legislative Council's Committee on Welfare Services, Jiang Liyun, also frankly stated on the same program that the ruling of the girl torture case was "pleasant", describing the incident as an extinction of humanity, and was also wary of many parents' daily discipline behaviors involving child abuse.
She suggested that the government should start with policies to prevent similar incidents. For example, referring to primary and secondary schools, setting up school social workers in kindergartens to keep an eye on the situation of children.
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