The Legislative Council Panel on Welfare Services held its second special meeting today (June 6) to discuss residential care services for children.
Deng Jiabiao, a trade union member, questioned whether the government would consider terminating the agreement with Tongleju after it was revealed that it was involved in serious child abuse incidents.
Law Chi-kwong, Secretary for Labour and Welfare, said that "punishment is always an option", but every decision must be made in the best interests of the child, describing the cancellation of a service as "unfortunate" because there must be "extra capacity" (Spare capacity)” in order to be able to handle it.
However, at present, there are only two accommodation institutions for young children in Hong Kong to choose from, and they are actively considering piloting different service models and attracting more groups to enter the venue.
The review is expected to be completed in September this year, and the monitoring system has been required to be installed
At the end of last year, Tong Le Ju, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children, was exposed to multiple cases of child abuse. The number of abused children reached 40, the youngest of whom was only one year old. A total of 34 staff members have been arrested so far.
Law Zhiguang said that after the unfortunate incident, the government has given priority to reviewing residential care and related services for children, comprehensively reviewing service quality standards and statutory requirements. Actively review the video recording mechanism, and also study the introduction of new technology into the system to strengthen monitoring.
The first phase of the review on residential care services is expected to be completed in September this year, and the comprehensive review is expected to be completed in March next year.
Kowloon Central Assemblyman Yeung Wing-kit is concerned about the adequacy of supervision and inspections before the legislation, and the timetable for the introduction of artificial intelligence recognition in the closed-circuit television system.
Luo Zhiguang pointed out that the application of artificial intelligence has been considered together in the scope of the review, but he mentioned that real-time analysis of video learning will take time. Identify employee misconduct or problems that may arise in day-to-day operations.
Wu Qiubei denounces that responsibility cannot be outsourced: repairing non-solving problems
New Thinking Member Di Zhiyuan suggested that the supervision work should be carried out quickly, and it is not necessary to wait for the review report to be completed.
Law Chi-kwong responded that the mandatory reporting of the amendments involves many different professions. If only the amendments are made without changing the relevant rules of the profession, there will be contradictions, and it is not appropriate to focus on speed only: "You must do it carefully, so as not to be kind. Do bad things."
Hong Kong Island East Councillor Wu Qiubei scolded the government for "inertia outsourcing", but even so, the responsibility still remains, "but I can't see that the people on the side of the SWD are responsible!" Yes, just tinkering, didn't solve the problem.
The Society for the Protection of Children officially appointed Zhou Shunyi as the Director-General, describing the reorganization of the Children's Leju as complicated but the child abuse case of the Children's Leju must be done | The Labour and Welfare Bureau believes that the supervision is ineffective and will set up a new residential child care center and increase the operation of the child-abuse agency of the Children's Leju | The Seven Deadly Sins of Managing Aided Institutions Li Haoran: The Child Abuse Cases of Tongleju must be reformed｜The SWD establishes a committee to review the supervision of children's accommodation and submit a report in March next year. The new management of Tongleju will be restructured from the education and care model in the next 9 months Waiting for the reform of the child abuse case at the Tongle Residence | The female staff member's application for bail at the High Court was approved not to enter the 100-meter range of the Tongle Residence. The child abuse case at the Tongle Residence | The police detained two more female staff members. The investigation has been completed, and a total of 34 people have been arrested at Tongle. Child Abuse Cases｜Individual Incidents or Institutional Issues?
Di Zhiyuan: There is no special law to prevent child abuse