Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) on Friday pledged an investigation into allegations of child abuse by the staff at a daycare center in the city’s Nantun District (南屯).
Lu said that she had issued a directive ordering the city’s Social Affairs Bureau to investigate allegations against caregivers at Hwa Shin Infant Care Center and submit a report by tomorrow.
Lu made the statement after parents at a news conference earlier in day presented video footage from February last year that they said showed their children being physically abused by different caregivers at Hwa Shin.
The footage showed a crying child being pulled into a storeroom and left there, while in another instance, a child is seen lying alone on the kitchen floor. Other footage showed a child being smacked on the head, and a toddler being held upside down by their feet.
A father, who asked not to be named, told the news conference that although the footage was filmed more than a year earlier, he and the other parents had not been informed by the bureau that their children had been physically abused.
In February last year, a Hwa Shin caregiver surnamed Huang was fined NT$60,000 and banned from working in a daycare center for 10 years, after she was found to have abused a young child there.
Hwa Shin was also fined NT$60,000 for negligence, and was instructed to ensure nothing of the sort happened again.
The daycare center subsequently sought a temporary suspension of operations until July 31 last year, the Social Affairs Bureau said.
However, the bureau said it received another complaint last week involving an abuse case at Hwa Shin, similar to the case involving Huang.
Lu on Friday asked whether the fine in the first case was enough.
She said that she has asked the bureau to work with the city’s Legal Affairs Bureau to review the penalties for such cases.
Caregivers caught intentionally causing bodily harm to children must be prosecuted, and those who witness such acts and do nothing should also be questioned, she said.
New Power Party Legislator Claire Wang (王婉諭) expressed similar views, saying that the NT$60,000 fine was too light.
Later on Friday, the daycare center manager apologized to the parents and said that she would not seek to evade responsibility during the investigation.
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