Tai Po Special School Hong Chi Pine Hill No. 2 School is suspected of child abuse. The Education Bureau confirmed today (2nd) that the school was involved in maladministration and mishandling of students by school personnel. The school has instructed the school sponsoring body and school to follow up seriously. The police also Some cases are being followed up, and it is inappropriate to make further comments at this time.
In addition, the school concerned has had a confirmed case, and the school has notified the CHP according to the mechanism, and sent a letter to notify the parents of the class involved.
Di Zhiyuan, a member of the social welfare sector of the Legislative Council, said that the problem of suspected child abuse cases is serious and extensive. The shortage of manpower and the mobility of manpower make it difficult for institutions to maintain stable services, thus giving rise to the problem of child abuse.
At this stage, there have been directional discussions on the manpower issue. There will be preliminary results in the next 4 to 5 months, and the manpower arrangement will be implemented and refined.
He also suggested that the relevant departments should submit reports and improvement suggestions to the public within a week on suspected child abuse incidents, so as to restore the public's confidence in such services.
The Education Bureau stated that it has been advising schools to make good use of positive behavioral support strategies to reduce students’ emotional and behavioral problems.
When a student has serious emotional and behavioral problems, based on the premise of ensuring the safety of the student or others, the school may consider appropriate use of restraint or isolation methods.
Schools should refer to the "Guidelines for Handling Severe Emotional and Behavioral Problems of Students with Special Educational Needs" compiled by the Education Bureau, and consult with school personnel, including educational psychologists, teachers, social workers, nurses, dormitory staff and related parties. Discuss how to adopt restraint or isolation methods such as restraint belts, restraint garments, Ningxu chairs, and Ningxu rooms according to different situations as measures of discipline, and fully communicate with parents.
According to the above guidelines, restraint or isolation of students must be brief and appropriate, and must take into account the student's personal feelings, dignity and privacy to ensure that the method does not cause physical or mental harm to the student; nor should it be used as a punishment.
School personnel should bear in mind to use a reasonable, proportionate and level of intervention to deal with the situation to ensure the personal safety of everyone.
Also, as for the school outbreak.
According to the Education Bureau, according to the current mechanism, when a school has a confirmed case, the school needs to notify the Centre for Health Protection and send a letter to parents.
There have been confirmed cases in the schools concerned and they have been notified to the Centre for Health Protection in accordance with the mechanism.
The school has sent a letter to notify the parents of the classes involved, and after being reminded by the Education Bureau, the school has sent a letter to notify the parents of the whole school about the confirmed diagnosis.
Lei Zhang Shenjia pointed out that the role of agency staff in taking care of and protecting children is very important. Therefore, agencies should select staff carefully and clearly explain the purpose of the agency and service requirements to candidates when recruiting.
(File photo/Photo by Zhang Daolong)
Lei Zhang Shenjia: The bottom line of taking care of children is non-violence
Lei Zhang Shenjia, a non-official member of the Committee on Children's Affairs, said that the role of institutional staff in taking care of and protecting children is very important. Therefore, institutions should select staff carefully. When recruiting, they must clearly explain the purpose and service requirements of the institution to applicants, emphasizing that child care should be Caring, "the bottom line must be non-violence", and the organization should also explain how to support employees who have difficulties at work.
She believes that in the event of a child abuse incident, it must be dealt with immediately.
"Ignore some situations and allow her to be patient, and accumulating too much patience has become a culture." Therefore, it is necessary to explain the consequences of the incident to other employees and remind them to be more vigilant.
She also pointed out that there are different cases of child abuse at present, but stressed that it is not possible to "beat a boat with one stick", and there are still many frontline staff who are responsible and take proper care of children.
Legislative Councilor Di Zhiyuan said that the current manpower of the relevant agencies barely meets the requirements.
Di Zhiyuan said that, as far as he knows, four institutions have been involved in suspected child abuse cases in the short term, and he believes that the problem is serious and extensive.
He pointed out that the problems of students in special schools and dormitories are more complicated, and more efforts need to be spent on discipline.
However, due to the shortage of manpower and the high turnover of manpower, it is difficult for the organization to maintain stable services, which leads to the problem of child abuse.
Di believes that the current staffing of relevant institutions is only barely meeting the requirements. "The ratio has already been ordered before, but the staffing ratio is not ideal", and some institutions have more than 10% staffing turnover, and there is institutional liquidity. It is closer to 30%. In addition, social workers are lost due to immigration and career change, and the supervisory level has changed greatly. As a result, institutional supervision is prone to omissions, and it is difficult to prevent employees from inappropriate behavior, which seriously affects the quality of service.
He suggested that agencies should conduct an internal review to see if staff were harming children.
The Education Bureau and the SWD will also review the operation of the institutions and issue relevant guidelines to the institutions.
He also pointed out that the SWD has recently stepped up its inspections of the organization, and was able to expose the child abuse incident in Po Leung Kuk.
The investigation report of the Review Committee on Child Residential Care and Related Services also requires institutions to have a clear supervision and monitoring mechanism, regularly supervise and strengthen training for employees. There won't be too many resources."
As for the medium and long-term plan in the report, it is to improve the manpower ratio, strengthen manpower training and resource support. At this stage, there have been directional discussions. It is expected that the second stage, that is, the next 4 to 5 months, will have preliminary results, and will be implemented and implemented. Detailed staffing arrangements.
He also urged the government to implement the mandatory reporting of child abuse bill as soon as possible, and hoped to submit it to the Legislative Council for discussion and approval by the end of this year.
He also suggested that the government should set up an independent investigation committee to follow up on child abuse incidents. The committee members include social workers, legal professionals, and representatives of residential institutions to supervise and supervise institutions.
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