Subsidy program hopes to prevent child abuse deaths

Underprivileged children from around the country will be entitled to a monthly subsidy of NT$3,000 beginning next month to help prevent deaths as a result of child abuse.

It is hoped that the emergency relief subsidy of NT$3,000 would give the prospective beneficiaries access to better care, thereby helping to reduce the possibility of deaths caused by child abuse or domestic violence, said Huang Pi-hsia (黃碧霞), director-general of the Ministry of Interior's Child Welfare Bureau.

The Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics has agreed to foot the NT$140 million (US$4.3 million) bill for the program, Huang said.

The Executive Yuan has also decided to allocate NT$31.5 million to finance local governments efforts to hire more social workers to facilitate the child subsidy program, she said.

Huang said that before the subsidy program could be implemented, a system had to be created with the participation of grassroots offices, schools and social workers to identify the prospective beneficiaries for the subsidy.

Huang said that the implementation of the program had become increasingly urgent, with the number of children dying as a result of abuse or being killed by suicidal parents increasing every year.

A total of 24 children died of abuse or were killed by their suicidal parents in the first six months of this year, slightly more than the figure posted in the same period of last year, Huang said, quoting a tally compiled by the bureau.