The number of cases of child abuse being reported to the authorities is on the rise, according to a report released yesterday.
As part of an awareness campaign marking Women's and Children's Day in Taiwan, the Child Welfare League Foundation and six child-welfare protection groups published a report detailing the 10 most serious problems facing children and teenagers.
According to government statistics from the past few years, the 10 most serious problems, in no particular order, are: a declining birthrate; difficulties in establishing an identity; lack of child care; physical abuse; psychological problems; dropping out of school; obsession with the Internet; lack of recreational facilities; sexual abuse and the influence of the sex trade.
"All these problems add up to great challenges and hardships faced by local youngsters in the course of their development," said CWLF Chief Executive Feng Yen (馮燕).
According to statistics from the Children's Bureau under the Ministry of the Interior, there were 4,466 cases of child abuse last year, compared with 2,868 in 1997. More than 80 percent of the cases involved the children's parents.
Director of the Children's Bureau, Liu Pang-fu (劉邦富), however, said the public should not worry too much about the apparent rise in the number of cases.
"The increasing number is because the reporting system is improving, which doesn't mean the actual incidence of child abuse is rising," Liu told the Taipei Times.
According to the report, 5,000 to 6,000 children were abandoned in Taiwan last year, and about 18,000 mentally handicapped babies were born.
One of the more worrisome findings in the report is that the number of school dropouts is increasing by about 700 a year, Feng said.
With the Internet gaining popularity among schoolchildren and teenagers, Feng said, the number of youngsters who run away from home because of their online obsessions is also rising steadily, while a lack of recreational opportunities for children and adolescents is becoming more acute.
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