The legislature’s Social Welfare, Environmental and Hygiene Committee yesterday passed a preliminary review of an amendment to the Children and Youth Welfare Act (兒童及少年福利法) which stipulates that only government-approved juristic institutions and registered placement and educational institutes for children and youths can provide adoption services.
The amendment to Article 15 of the act, which defines the institutions that are legally able to offer such services, was proposed to stop the illegal trade of infants.
Meanwhile, the committee also passed the preliminary review of amendments to articles 16, 17 and 18. The articles stipulate that except for cases involving adoptions by relatives, parents or guardians, state-approved children and youth welfare institutions that provide adoption services should search for proper adopters and evaluate the necessity of adoptions.
If adoption is deemed necessary, the right to adopt should be first granted to Taiwanese.
Results of evaluations conducted by welfare institutions are required if the adopter files an application at a local court. The court could ask the adopters to take preparatory courses, to have a mental health check or take alcohol and drug tests before being granted approval.
In addition, parents could seek approval for adoption at local courts if they disagree with a decision. They could also do so unilaterally if the whereabouts of the other parent of the child is unknown. The court could approve an adoption if it finds after investigation that it is in the best interests of the child.
The committee was originally scheduled to review amendments to articles 36 and 38, as well as a newly created article 37, which would regulate the content displayed in print journalism as well as that over the Internet. The committee did not get to those articles because of limited time.
The Children and Youth Welfare Act is mainly the responsibility of the Ministry of Interior. Other government agencies are also listed to help enforce the act, including the Government Information Office (GIO), the Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the National Communications Commission (NCC).
Based on the draft of the amendment, Article 36 would authorize the IDB to establish a rating system for online games. Article 38 would enable the NCC to regulate online content and enforce other complementary measures. The new Article 37 would put the GIO in charge of regulating the content in print journalism following the annulling of the Publishing Act in 1999.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS