After collecting 187 child abuse-related news reports from this year, the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families (TFCF) found that physical abuse was at the top with 36 percent, while sexual abuse accounted for 34 percent and negligent care 26 percent. The most stunning discovery made was that negligent care caused death 56 percent of the time, even higher than deaths caused by physical abuse, which caused death 45 percent of the time. These results make negligence the greatest cause for concern when it comes to child safety, so adults need to be careful not to leave young children unattended as it could lead to fatal circumstances.
TFCF executive director Miguel Wang says that out of the 27 children who died due to negligent parenting this year and had an average age of 4.4 years, nearly 60 percent were in accidents while they were left unattended. The top three causes of death due to negligence included drowning, suffocating and falling from buildings. When compared to statistics from the Ministry of the Interior, the number of children harmed or injured due to negligent care has increased by 31 percent over the past eight years.
Wang says that even though the Protection of Children and Youths Welfare and Rights Act stipulates that children six years old or younger are not legally allowed to be left alone or looked after by an unsuitable caretaker, many poor families are left with no other option but to let a slightly older brother or sister take care of the younger child, or simply leave the child unattended.
Photo: Chang Jui-chen, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者張瑞楨
TFCF invited seven experts working in the fields of social work, law and medicine to select 10 major news stories related to child protection. Four of the stories selected were related to negligent care: the charred bodies of three young brothers holding on to each other after waiting to be rescued during a fire; a four-year-old who fell from a window on the ninth floor after getting through its metal bars; a week-old infant who drowned in a bathtub while the mother was tending to another child; and a two-day-old infant girl who died from exposure to the sun after being left lying naked on a tar road for 12 hours.
Liu Shu-chiung, a professor in the Department of Social Work at National Taiwan University, is highly critical of the government’s ineffective child protection policies. She urges the Cabinet to convene a consortium of social work and legal experts that would be responsible for coming up with more effective ways to protect children, and annually release reports of children’s deaths to hopefully remedy the situation by better understanding causes of death, the circumstances, and the problems involved.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
家扶基金會蒐集今年一八七則兒虐新聞發現，遭身體虐待佔百分之卅六比率最高，其次為性侵傷害百分之卅四、照顧疏忽百分之廿六。令人咋舌的是，兒童因照顧疏忽致死率百分之五十六高居第一，遠高於身體虐待致死率百分之四十五，「大人粗心、小孩枉死」成為兒童安全一大隱憂！
家扶執行長王明仁指出，因照顧疏忽不幸死亡的廿七名兒童，平均僅四點四歲，近六成是獨處時發生意外，尤以溺斃、悶死及墜樓為前三大主因。比對內政部統計，因照顧疏忽導致兒童受害的人數，八年激增百分之卅一。
王明仁說，儘管兒童及少年福利與權益保障法規定不能讓六歲以下兒童獨處或由不適當者代照顧，但弱勢家庭不少迫於經濟，由稍大孩子照顧年幼弟妹或任由孩子獨處。
家扶邀社工、法界、醫界等七位專家選出今年十大兒保新聞，照顧疏忽類佔四則，分別是火噬三兄弟焦屍交纏似待援；四歲童鑽鐵窗欄縫自九樓墜地亡；哄這娃漏那娃、週歲嬰溺斃浴缸；出生兩天的女嬰棄柏油路赤身曬十二小時。
台大社工系教授劉淑瓊痛批政府兒保政策是「捉瞎」！疾呼行政院邀集社政、司法等專家，召開兒保協調會報，每年定期公佈兒童死亡報告，了解死因、樣態、問題，才能對症下藥！
（自由時報記者謝文華）
★ Bilingual Story is a fictionalized account. 雙語故事部分內容純屬虛構。 “Any New Year’s resolutions?” he asked. Lena put her coffee down. “Yeah,” she said. “To get in shape.... round is a shape, right?” Mark chuckled. “I support this. Fully achievable. Low risk.” “Thanks,” she smiled and lovingly rubbed her round belly. “I like a resolution I can’t fail.” “Funny thing is, I was thinking about getting round too.” Lena nodded her head in approval, “You could put some meat on those skinny bones of yours.” Mark shook his head, “Not that kind of round. Wheel-of-Life round.” She raised an eyebrow.
詞法—不定詞的誤用 1. 我得記住星期五要把報告寫好。 ˇ I must remember to finish my report by Friday. χ I must remember finishing my report by Friday. 註︰remember 後面跟動名詞或不定詞表示兩種不同的概念，與 forget 相類似。 試比較下列句子： I remember meeting him somewhere.（我記得曾經在某處見過他。） I must remember to meet him at the station at six this evening. （我必須記住今晚六點得去車站接他。） He remembered turning off the light when he left the room. （他記得離開房間時曾先把燈熄了。） Remember to turn off the light when you leave the room. （記住離開房間時要把燈關了。） 2. 他提醒她做好她份內的事。 ˇ He reminded her to do her job. χ He reminded her of doing her job. 註︰remind ... of ... 後面跟動名詞，表示「使人想起做過某事」。若是「提醒某人應做某事」，應用 remind ... to do ...。試比較下列句子： He reminded me of my attending the lecture last Friday. （他讓我想起我上星期五去聽過那次演講。） He
Skating is a popular recreational and competitive activity that involves sliding over surfaces using specially designed footwear. Its origins date back over 1,000 years to Northern Europe, where people first strapped animal bones to their feet to move across frozen lakes and rivers. In the 17th century, the Dutch transformed skating into a leisure activity. They also replaced bone blades with metal, leading to the creation of modern ice skates. Today, ice skating is enjoyed as a global sport and an exciting pastime by people of all ages. Figure skating is one of the best-known and most graceful forms of skating.
對話 Dialogue 清清：最近天氣越來越冷，感覺很容易感冒，要不要一起去吃薑母鴨或是羊肉爐？ Qīngqing: Zuìjìn tiānqì yuèláiyuè lěng, gǎnjué hěn róngyì gǎnmào, yào bú yào yìqǐ qù chī jiāngmǔyā huòshì yángròulú? 華華：最近我覺得有點累，想吃薑母鴨，可是又怕一下子吃太補會上火。 Huáhua: Zuìjìn wǒ juéde yǒudiǎn lèi, xiǎng chī jiāngmǔyā, kěshì yòu pà yíxiàzi chī tài bǔ huì shànghuǒ. 清清：那我們去喝香菇雞湯吧，不太容易上火，喝了也會很暖和。 Qīngqing: Nà wǒmen qù hē xiānggū jītāng ba, bú tài róngyì shànghuǒ, hē le yě huì hěn nuǎnhuo. 華華：聽起來不錯！你們家平常冬天都吃什麼進補？ Huáhua: Tīng qǐlái búcuò! Nǐmen jiā píngcháng dōngtiān dōu chī shénme jìnbǔ? 清清：我家都煮麻油雞，吃完整個人手腳都會熱起來。我也很久沒喝香菇雞湯了，正好可以去打打牙祭。 Qīngqing: Wǒ jiā dōu zhǔ máyóujī, chī wán zhěnggè rén shǒujiǎo dōu huì rè qǐlái. Wǒ yě hěn jiǔ méi hē xiānggū jītāng le, zhènghǎo kěyǐ qù dǎ dǎ yájì. 華華：可是我最近在減肥，會不會吃得太補，肉又長回來了？ Huáhua: Kěshì wǒ zuìjìn zài jiǎnféi, huì bú
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