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Little Artist Exhibition | Protecting family life can truly protect children

2021-04-25T04:36:55.116Z


The case of a five-year-old girl who was tortured to death was concluded a few days ago. The girl’s father and stepmother were convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. After the tragedy, in addition to legislating to protect children from abuse, how to protect the well-being of children in Hong Kong has become a major issue.


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Written by: Cheng Xue

2021-04-24 19:06

Last update date: 2021-04-24 19:06

The case of a five-year-old girl who was tortured to death was concluded a few days ago. The girl’s father and stepmother were convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

After the tragedy, in addition to legislating to protect children from abuse, how to protect the well-being of children in Hong Kong has become the focus of public concern.

A private organization organized a charity fund-raising exhibition for children's art, aiming to raise funds for the association's child protection project.

The charity fundraising exhibition "Little Artists" hosted by the Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children held an opening ceremony at Pottinger 22 Gallery in Central yesterday (April 23).

With the theme of "Togetherness", this exhibition will display 42 works created by young artists for two days.

According to Chen Lei, chairman of the Fundraising Committee of the Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children, the number of sponsors for this fundraiser has exceeded 980, and more than 1.5 million yuan has been raised.

The proceeds from the fundraising will be used by the Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children to provide free professional assessment services for children with special educational needs and to reduce tuition fees for childcare schools, daycare nurseries, and children and families participating in after-school tutoring.

According to Chen Lei, the exhibition also hopes to cultivate "little philanthropists" so that children can participate in charitable activities through artistic creation and learn to give back to the society.

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Among them, 15-year-old Gaby is the oldest creator, and her painting "united with love" is one of the most funded works in this event.

"I want to express the theme of "love" through the hands held together and the fusion of colors, showing the rich connotation of love." Gaby studied art in middle school. This is not the first time she has devoted herself to charity when she was only 15 years old. activity.

"My mother used to be the chairman of the Society for the Protection of Children, and my family has a connection with this association." With the influence of his parents, Gaby participated in street charity sales as a child and participated in the school project of the Society for the Protection of Children.

"The significance of this activity is to gather everyone's strength to create a better growth environment for my peers," she said.

The Society for the Protection of Children is one of the largest charitable childcare services in Hong Kong. It aims to provide services for children from birth to 16 years old and their families, focusing on helping children with developmental differences and their parents.

Assistant Director Zhu Jianwen stated that the goal of the Society for the Protection of Children is to provide services of "early identification and early intervention" so that children of different abilities, classes and backgrounds can grow up healthily.

This concept is more in line with the ideal indicators of the World Health Organization to protect children, that is, to extend the protection of children's services to the overall welfare of their families, without limiting the scope of protecting children to "preventing abuse"-paying attention to the needs of children's growth and safety Well-being.

"We have day-care kindergartens for children from birth to under 2 years old, and Tongleju, which can provide 24-hour residential care for parents with mental disorders or child abuse problems. The service is more comprehensive." Chen Lei said.

However, the resources of non-governmental organizations have always been limited, and the SAR government is indispensable if they want to promote child welfare in an all-round way.

However, Hong Kong’s child welfare policy is not yet complete. For example, there is currently no clear legislation to protect children from violence, resulting in at least a thousand child abuse cases every year.

The Law Reform Commission recently stated that the "crime without protection" proposed in 2019 has now completed the relevant consultation report and will complete the final report on the introduction of the law within two months.

It is undeniable that the "crime of no protection" can fill the current loopholes in the law, but Hong Kong still has a long way to go from a comprehensive child protection policy.

"Offence of no protection" is recommended for those who have "responsibility for care" or "frequent contact" for children or vulnerable persons, such as relatives, social workers, teachers, and home staff, etc. If children are found to be at risk of serious physical injury, they must Report, otherwise you may face criminal liability.

The industry believes that failure to clarify what constitutes a "care responsibility" and what constitutes a "serious injury risk" will undoubtedly increase the work pressure of relevant practitioners, or cause "unreasonable 3721, reasonable and unreasonable reports." "First" result.

On the one hand, this has caused social workers to postpone their work procedures when they encountered suspected abuse incidents, including family welfare, parental cooperation, etc. On the one hand, it may also cause relevant departments to face the problem of "complaints flying all over the sky" and insufficient manpower to handle cases.

Therefore, it is not only necessary for the Law Reform Commission and government departments to adopt private opinions and improve the adjustment details; but also for related supporting facilities, including sufficient resources, manpower allocation and division of labor, diversion system, professional co-worker training programs, community publicity and education, etc.

However, the "no protection crime" legislation is only the first step to protect children.

According to information from the Social Welfare Department, more than 70% of child abuse cases are the parent, caregiver or relative of the child abused.

Research by the Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse has shown that parents who abuse children or neglect to take care of children often face life pressures such as economic crisis, marital problems, or mental disorders.

It is not difficult to see that the problem of child abuse involves not only the injured children, but also the families that are deeply trapped in the reality of the problem.

Therefore, family protection is the key link in preventing child abuse, and policy makers should have this foresight, raise the perspective of child protection policies, and include families in need of urgent support in Hong Kong.

At the same time, the protection of children should not stop at preventing abuse, but must go deep into the growth process of children and provide them with a safe growth environment.

Other in-depth articles:

5-year-old girl torture case | Hong Kong children lack a "protection net" behind frequent child abuse cases

Boao Forum hides signals of Hong Kong's transformation

New crown pneumonia | Why not popularize vaccination and talk about relaxation and customs clearance?

In-depth report on children's health-Children's Art Exhibition Charity

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2021-04-25

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