The increasing chance that teenagers will make friends through the Internet has become the latest factor in causing youngsters to run away from home, according to the Child Welfare League Foundation (
"As the Internet's role becomes more and more important in our daily lives, many families are starting to feel the negative impact the technology can bring," said CWLF Chairman Lin Jih-jia (林志嘉).
Lin, also a legislator, said that over the past year, around a dozen cases in which teenage girls went missing after getting acquainted with friends through on-line chat and forum services have been reported.
These include six cases that were directly reported to the CWLF, and five others exposed by the media, Lin said.
"A worrying pattern is emerging, and this is an important social problem," Lin added.
Since 1992, the CWLF has worked with the Ministry of the Interior to look for missing youngsters. Of a total of 672 cases handled by the CWLF, 489 people have been located.
A CWLF analysis shows that up to 306 (45.5 percent) of the missing people, including 187 girls and 119 boys, are teenagers between the ages of 12 and 18.
Of all the reasons children go missing, running away from home ranks as the most common, CWLF says.
This it true for 141 (75 percent) of the girls and 62 (52 percent) of the boys.
Of the six Internet-related cases, four girls were found to have been living with boyfriends with whom they got acquainted via the Internet.
Two of the girls got married after getting pregnant, and one was raped. Two have still not yet been located.
The mother of 14-year-old Wu Su-yi (吳思儀), missing since April 18, said that although her daughter had told her about friends she made on the Internet, she was not sure who they were.
"She seldom told me where she went, because I was very strict with her," said the single mother. "Furthermore, I had to work and seldom had time to keep her company."
Joyce Feng (馮燕), a sociologist and executive director of CWLF, advised parents to actively promote friendly communication between themselves and their children.
This is one way of ensuring that children maintain their desire to be with their families, she said.
Parents who discover their children becoming deeply engrossed in online chat shouldn't become nervous or attempt to forbid them, Feng said.
"Such behavior will alienate the children and possibly drive them away from home. They will be afraid to discuss matters with their parents for fear of encountering trouble," Feng said.
Feng said teenagers tend to be curious about the opposite sex and may often try to make friends through the Internet.
"Perhaps because they are shy or lack self-confidence, they opt to hide in the `cyber world' to realize their desires to make new friends with the opposite sex," Feng said.
Faced with this situation, Feng said, parents should encourage their children to boost their self-confidence and thus expand their social life.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)