While the number of reported child-abuse cases has decreased, children younger than six make up a growing part of reported child-abuse cases, which might be because young children were not included in the public support and surveillance system, according to the Minister of Health and Welfare’s Department of Protective Services.
The number of reported child-abuse cases dropped from 19,174 in 2012 to 16,322 in 2013 and 11,589 last year, whereas the percentage of cases involving children less than six had increased from 20.8 percent in 2012 to 22.6 percent last year, the department said.
Department deputy director Lin Wei-yen (林維言) said children younger than six have not yet entered the public education system, making the abuse of those children less detectable.
Deaths of several preschoolers were reported over the past week, including the death of a one-year-old girl from Hsinchu City who was allegedly smothered to death by her father, Chen Te-lung (陳德隆). He was arrested on Friday last week.
On Monday last week, Lin Liao-chuan (林廖傳) allegedly suffocated his one-year-old son to death in Keelung. He turned himself in to police two days later after he had left the boy at a hospital.
A two-year-old boy from Hsinchu County died of a comminuted fracture to the head after his uncle allegedly hit his head against a wall on Tuesday last week. The boy’s sister sustained multiple injuries and is being treated at a hospital.
Child Welfare League Foundation executive director Chen Li-ju (陳麗如) echoed Lin’s words, saying that infants and young children are beyond the reach of public surveillance system and the child abuse results in serious injuries.
The alertness and intervention of the community might be all that can be relied upon, Chen said.
The main abusers of children are parents, followed by close relatives and other caregivers, Lin said, adding that child abuse involves physical violence, mental abuse, sexual abuse, neglect and abandonment.
The department instructed social workers to pay close attention to young parents, parents with mental illness, young children with mental or physical disability, children born prematurely and other high-risk groups, Lin said.
Adult violence caused by sudden rage is behind many child-maltreatment cases, making it difficult for the government to intervene proactively, Lin said.
Taiwan Fund for Children and Families executive director Ho Su-chiu (何素秋) said that increasing numbers of young children died of physical abuse or neglect over the past three years, and 50 percent of the victims were less than two years old.
The recent spate of fatal child-abuse cases could be attributed to a wide array of causes, including family pressure, unsuccessful marriage, parental drug abuse and alcohol abuse, absence of parents who have been imprisoned, emotional instability caused by mental illness and neglect by inexperienced parents.
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