The "Tongleju" under the Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children reported a child abuse case at the end of last year, arousing concern from all walks of life.
The Labour and Welfare Bureau aims to introduce a bill to the Legislative Council in the first half of 2023 for the legislative work on the mechanism for mandatory reporting of child abuse cases.
The Legislative Council held a special finance committee meeting on welfare and women's affairs today (14th). Many members were concerned about the Tongleju incident and criticized the authorities for being a blind eye on the issue of child protection. They demanded that the authorities strengthen supervision and speed up the mandatory reporting of child abuse cases. The process of mechanism legislation.
Chen Manqi approves the Labor Welfare Bureau to protect children by watching the fire from the other side
Councilman Chan Man-ki pointed out at the meeting that he was extremely disappointed with the written reply of the Labour and Welfare Bureau on child protection.
In particular, when the authorities responded to the number of manpower and resources used to protect children in the past three years, the written reply was only 685 words, only to disclose that 4 inspectors were responsible for regular and surprise inspections of child care centers and approval of child care center registration applications, and the rest just described the procedures. She criticized the content for being empty, "as if the Labor and Welfare Bureau's policy of protecting children is just watching fire from the sidelines", questioning whether the authorities' resources are used in procedures or in actual protection of children.
Tian Beichen: How many rooms are there like Tongleju, which are unsupervised?
Assemblyman Tian Beichen pointed out that, seeing that there are 165 institutions participating in the block grant subsidy system, involving more than 20 billion yuan, these institutions are all trying to help people, but what he thinks is "how many of them are like Tongleju?" It means that there is no one to supervise, you can do whatever you want.” He continued, pointing out that the government spends a lot of public funds every year to help those in need, but in the end it may become “funders beating children.” Basically, they will believe the words of the agency. If no complaints are made, nothing will happen.
▼April 14th Special Finance Committee Meeting▼
Lin Zhiyuan criticizes the authorities for lacking a backup plan: even child abuse must be done by a (organization)
Assemblyman Lam Chi-wan mentioned that it would be quite disappointing to measure the allocation of social welfare resources based on the outcome, "In the past period of time, I have seen that protecting children becomes child abuse, and elderly people die in nursing homes. Lin Zhiyuan pointed out that after the child abuse incident broke out in Tong Leju, the authorities continued to use the same service agency to provide services. Seeing that the authorities seemed to have no backup plan, “In the end, you have to go back and do it because I have no backup plan. Even if he abuses children, we have to do it, but let someone supervise him."
▼Tongleju suspected child abuse incident▼
Ge Peifan urges to speed up the legislation of mandatory reporting mechanism of child abuse
On the issue of child protection, he also criticized the authorities for having no mid-term arrangement. The bill will not be submitted to the Legislative Council until the first half of 2023.
Member of Parliament Ge Peifan also asked the authorities to speed up the process of legislation on a mechanism for mandatory reporting of child abuse cases.
Luo Zhiguang: There is no child abuse incident today
Law Chi-kwong, director of the Labour and Welfare Bureau, responded at the meeting that there are no child abuse incidents at Tong Leju. Although there have been recent news reports that the police have arrested more people for the incident, the child abuse incidents all happened on December 21 last year. I hope Members can distinguish the facts of what happened a few days ago and do not take these incidents as if they happened today.
He went on to point out that all the staff of the service units involved have been replaced, and many senior service agencies have helped to improve the inquiries.
Regarding relevant policy and regulatory issues, he pointed out that the proposals submitted by the institutions specified the quantity and quality of services, and the authorities would also conduct random inspections. At the meeting of the Legislative Council Welfare Services Committee in early May, we can discuss regulatory issues with members again.
▼Tongleju suspected child abuse incident▼
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The compulsory reporting mechanism for child abuse involves multiple professions, and it took a year to discuss it, and the time is quite tight
As for the Labour and Welfare Bureau to submit a bill to the Legislative Council on the mandatory reporting mechanism of child abuse cases in the first half of 2023, Law Chi-kwong said that because the relevant mechanism requires more detailed and in-depth discussion of legislative amendments, "It is not necessary to change a few words to change the legislation. Amendment," and said that the legislation will affect the professional ethics and guidelines of many professions, and it is a fairly tight timetable to complete this work in one year.
Law Chi-kwong, Secretary for Labour and Welfare, pointed out that at the meeting of the Legislative Council Welfare Services Committee in early May, the issue of NGO regulation can be discussed with members again.
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