Will it Ever End? Taiwan Moves to Curb Child Abuse

These children's bodies show the heartrending signs of an ongoing pattern of vicious mistreatment. What makes some parents so cruel? (courtesy of Taipei County Family Helper Project)

The Chinese Fund for Children and Families recently selected the ten worst child abuse cases from last year. The newspaper headlines from these cases are enough to curdle the blood. "Child Abuse Leads to Death of Girl in Juifang-Buddhist Nun Arrested." "Ten-Month-Old Girl Drowned by Father in Hsintien River." "Child Drowns After Being Pushed into Pond by Parent." "Young Mother Immolates Self, Children." "Father Rapes Nine-Year-Old Daughter."

Why is it that so many innocent children suffer for the shortcomings of adults? And why do the offenders so often turn out to be a child's parents even though, according to the traditional Chinese way of thinking, "a parent can do no wrong?"

The fact is, many parents "do very wrong." Child abuse is a problem throughout the world, but we cannot sit idly by and watch the problem grow worse. Abused children need society's help, and so do their abusers.

With the amendment of the Children's Welfare Law and passage of the Domestic Violence Prevention Law, the long arm of the law now reaches into the home. Beating children is no longer just a family affair. Anyone can now report child abuse to the authorities. Social workers and police can get involved in family matters, and when it is deemed necessary they can even temporarily revoke parental custody and remove a child from the home.

The existence of progressive laws, however, does not necessarily translate into progressive attitudes. When the law reaches into the home, what problems arise? After the authorities intervene in a troubled family situation, are the children's worries over?

In April, five-year-old Luo Li-chang was found dead in Kaohsiung, the victim of child abuse. His mother and her live-in boyfriend were arrested, but they jumped bail and went into hiding. After they were re-arrested in late May, it came to light that Li-chang's younger brother, Luo Li-chieh, had also died of child abuse two years earlier.

How could anyone, least of all the parents, treat innocent, defenseless children with such brutality? That is the saddest and most inexplicable part of the whole tragedy.

The effort to protect children is hamstrung by a shortage of social workers. At the Nankang Ward Social Services Center, three social workers must deal with senior citizens' issues, women's issues, children's welfare, poverty, sudden catastrophes （i.e., due to accident, illness, natural disaster, etc.）. family crises, and much more.

What do the numbers say? Some very surprising results came in when the Millennium Cultural and Educational Foundation distributed a questionnaire in May on "Family Values in Taiwan." The responses appear to indicate that verbal or physical violence has occurred between parents and children in over 40% of all families in Taiwan. In families where physical violence has taken place (12.5% of the total survey group), around half-6.5%-indicated that the violence has resulted in injuries. New neighborhoods, troubled lives

Is the frequency of child abuse actually on the rise? In the opinion of Yu Ching-mei, director of the Taipei County Family Helper Project, there are indeed more and more child abuse cases being handled these days, but this is related to increased reporting and the establishment of more rigorous criteria regarding what constitutes child abuse.

In the past, child abuse was very seldom reported to the authorities, and today's clear-cut standards regarding what constitutes child abuse did not exist. A lot of abuse used to occur, for example, in connection with the once-common Chinese custom of adopting young girls from poor families and raising them with the intention of marrying them to one's son. These girls were not sent to school, but were forced instead to work all day as domestic help, and they were sometimes beaten. This sort of situation was taken for granted several decades ago, but by today's standards it would clearly be seen as child abuse.

While it is true that standards have risen, it is also a fact that conditions in today's society are leading to increased child abuse. One problem is changing family structure.

According to Yu Han-yi, an associate professor of sociology at National Taiwan University, in the big families of the past, there were more people around to help take care of children and protect them. Child abuse was less likely to happen under those conditions. Today's small families, however, live apart from relatives and don't receive so much support. This is bad news for children. Among the 12 wards in Taipei City, for example, Neihu is one of those with the most child abuse cases. Chiang Chi-hsuan, a social work supervisor at the Neihu ward social services center, explains that Neihu is full of new residential developments. Large numbers of residents have moved in from elsewhere, and most families tend to be young and small. Such families generally have relatively few resources and many pressures. They are more likely to spend less time with their children, and more prone to employ improper methods of discipline.

There are other factors, too. A crowded urban environment increases the frequency of child abuse, and the same is true of brittle and broken marital ties, and an up-and-down economy. Yu Han-yi points out that statistics in the United States indicate a direct relationship between unemployment and the number of child abuse reports.

Some consider children angels. Others think they're more like devils. Both views are correct. Children can go either way, depending on how they are treated by adults.

"The kid was my property!"

After she jumped bail and was later re-arrested for the murder of her son, Luo Ming-hui lamented to journalists, "The kid was my property! Now I have absolutely nothing!" This outburst was a reflection of the fact that many people still regard their children as their own private property.

In today's world, however, modern governments have long since defined children as important assets of society and the nation. With the rapid spread of human rights concepts, children have come to be seen as enjoying the same rights as anyone else.

These concepts have resulted in the enactment of a number of laws aimed at protecting the rights of children, including the Children's Welfare Law, the Sexual Abuse Prevention Law, and the Domestic Violence Prevention Law. Everyone is now expected to play a part in preventing abuse, thus the number of reported child abuse cases is rising.

Wang Hsiao-hsien of the Office of Social Work at Taipei City Government's Bureau of Social Affairs indicates that the number of reported child abuse cases has doubled in each of the last two years, and the trend continues. The city handled over 900 cases last year, and by May this year the number had already exceeded 1,000.

Although the number of reported cases has risen, the general public for the most part has the idea that it is only physical beatings which constitute child abuse. In reality, child abuse includes any action or inaction that impedes a child's physical or emotional development. Physical abuse, psychological abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse are all forms of child abuse.

A woman caught up in an acrimonious relationship with her mother-in-law, for example, used her own son, whom the mother-in-law had raised, as her means of revenge. She locked the child in the bathroom and wouldn't let him out to play with other children. In another case, a single father left his five-year-old son alone at home all day with nothing for nourishment but a loaf of bread and a pot of water. Although these adults did not beat anyone, their actions still constituted child abuse. Do you know any abused children?

Even when people know that a child is being abused, they are often reluctant to report it.

The Children's Welfare Law, which was promulgated in 1993, lists people in a number of occupations who are required to report known cases of child abuse. These include doctors, nurses, social workers, clinical psychologists, educators, child care personnel, police, court officials, and others engaged in child welfare work.

According to statistics compiled by the Office of Social Work, more than one quarter of child abuse reports come from the parent not involved in the abuse, while the rest come from social service agencies, neighbors, friends, relatives, and teachers. It is thus apparent that most of those who are required by law to make such reports are not actually doing so.

Personnel at medical institutions do not often report child abuse because they might have to appear later in court. Who needs the complication? Schools have done little because they worry about parents causing trouble at school. Some schools even refuse to allow social workers to come onto their premises in order to take children out of abusive homes. If abusive parents thought that their children might be taken away while at school, many educators reason, such parents might keep their children out of school.

The percentage of sexual abuse cases reported is especially low. According to Chi Hui-jung, executive director of the Garden of Hope Foundation, "Sexual abuse of children is a family secret." Chi points out that sexual abuse is different in important ways from other types of child abuse. It leaves no obvious outward scars. Unless a family member reports it, no one outside the family is likely to know about it. Many girls who experience sexual abuse as children remain silent, unable to find the courage to seek help from the Garden of Hope Foundation until as long as 20 years after the original crime.

In an effort to prompt more people to report child abuse, the Taipei City Government began in June assessing fines of NT$6,000-30,000 in cases where persons legally required to report child abuse fail to do so. Busybodies?

There are two different child abuse hotlines in Taiwan. One serves Taipei, while the other serves the rest of Taiwan. Once a case has been reported, it is time for the civil authorities to intervene in a family's affairs. After receiving a report, those running the hotlines immediately inform the appropriate social services center. The social services center must then send a social worker to visit the family within 24 hours.

Because the parents in these cases are not usually the ones who have initiated the proceedings, they naturally react very emotionally to intervention in their family affairs. On one such home visit by a social worker, for example, an abusive parent objected, "That's how my father disciplined me, so why didn't anyone come and save me back then?"

Tang Yu-tsui, a social work supervisor at the Nankang ward social services center, points out that even when the social worker is accompanied by a police officer, it is impossible to enter a home without the owner's consent unless a search warrant has been obtained. Social workers are often barred at the front door when they go on these home visits. If they are allowed inside, they do not know what sort of situation they are getting themselves into. Says Ms. Tang, "On one of those visits, I didn't know that one of the family members had a mental illness. That person suddenly came at me and started beating on me." Recounting the event in the safety of her office, her manner still betrays the terror she experienced. Social workers have had urine thrown in their faces and put up with dog bites, threats, and curses.

The Children's Welfare Law stipulates that if a social worker determines that a child's life is in imminent danger, he or she has the authority to enter the home with a police officer and remove the child without the parents' consent.

The law further states that the child shall be placed in "emergency living quarters" for a period of three days, with a possibility of application for extension when necessary. To apply for such an extension, the social worker must collect evidence of abuse and file charges against the abuser.

It is seldom easy to collect evidence in a regular criminal case, "let alone," says Tang Yu-tsui, "in a domestic case." In a big city, the neighbors are complete strangers to each other. Even when they are aware of child abuse in a neighbor's home, they are wary of getting involved.

The difficulties of assembling evidence and dealing with the resistance of child abusers are not the only worries confronting social workers. In addition, they must also deal with foot-dragging in the justice, law enforcement, and educational systems. Comments Chiang Chi-hsuan, "Our society is not familiar with the work of protecting children, and that greatly complicates the social worker's job." For a long time, social work has been a low priority.

Professor Hung Wen-hui, of the Taiwan Police College, once explained at a conference on the protection of children that police training procedures, for example, place top priority on the criminal and civil justice systems, while paying scant attention to welfare legislation. As a result, most police officers are reluctant to get involved in family matters unless serious injury or death has occurred.

"In fact," says Chiang, "sometimes having a police officer on hand just makes the abuser resist all the more ferociously, so most social workers prefer to go on home visits by themselves unless there is danger involved." Good-bye to home

Abused children taken from their parents are currently placed in one of three types of foster care situations: relatives, foster families, or institutions. In terms of both quantity and quality, neither foster families nor institutions are truly adequate, and there have even been cases in Taipei City where abused children were subjected to further abuse at foster homes and institutions. As for relatives, it is not always easy to find someone who is capable of caring for the child.

Taking children away from their homes is not really what social workers are trying to accomplish.

Says Yu Han-yi, "You have to look at child abuse as an entire family's call for help." These families usually have a lot of problems. When placing a child in temporary living quarters, the ultimate objective of social workers is to give the child's family a chance to get back on the right track so that the child can come back home to a healthy environment.

"Parents who abuse their children," says Chu Mei-kuan, a social worker at the Taichung Family Helper Project, "need help worse than anybody." Not every parent knows how to be a parent. Education is needed.

Working on contract to the Taichung County Government, the Taichung Family Helper Project runs parenting classes for families involved in child abuse cases. The aim of these classes is to provide individual and small-group counseling to teach abusive persons new ways of venting their emotions, help them develop better ways of communicating with their children, and make them understand what they can and can't do in disciplining their children.

Unfortunately, child abuse offenders do not usually see their behavior as a problem, and thus tend to be very uncooperative. In the city and county of Taichung, for example, where some 200 known child abuse cases occur each year, only about one-third of all child abuse offenders agree to attend parenting classes, and one person in five drops out before the classes are finished. Social service agencies do not have sufficient authority to force offenders to attend these classes. The most they can do is impose fines. Remove the offender

Inability to improve the situation in abusive homes is often the prelude to greater tragedy down the line. Before Luo Li-chang met his death in Kaohsiung, for example, both he and his brother Luo Li-chieh had previously been placed in a foster home by the Kaohsiung City Bureau of Social Affairs, but in end the mother acted against the advice of social workers (but within her legal rights) by taking the children back home. The boys were subsequently killed in separate incidents by her live-in boyfriend.

According to Yu Han-yi, reports from abroad indicate that social service agencies have had previous contact with the family in half of all child abuse cases involving the death of a child. It is thus apparent that without sufficient follow-up by social service agencies, child abuse is not limited to a single occurrence.

Parties working to improve children's welfare are placing their hopes on the Domestic Violence Prevention Law, which went into effect on June 24th.

"Under the current system," says Tang Yu-tsui, "the victim of child abuse is removed from the home, which just compounds the child's suffering. It's the offender that we should be removing from the home."

According to Chen Cheng-yuan, a researcher in the Taipei City Government's Bureau of Social Affairs, the Domestic Violence Prevention Law seeks to protect every single member of the family, and that naturally includes the children. This law gives the victim the right to file a complaint against his abusers and to apply for a restraining order to remove the offender from the home. Now that the new law has taken effect, children no longer have to leave their homes.

That's the theory, anyway. In reality, the machinery for the enforcement of this law is not completely in place. While the law calls for the establishment of local centers for prevention of domestic violence and sexual abuse, these have not yet been established in many localities, nor have the necessary staff been assembled.

Even worse, says Chi Hui-jung, a victim of sexual abuse is not in imminent danger of death, and is thus not entitled under the new law to apply for an emergency temporary restraining order. Ms. Chi explains that applications for emergency temporary restraining orders are processed very quickly-an order can be obtained within four hours-while the law does not clearly state how quickly an ordinary restraining order must be processed. As a result, many doubt whether applying for an ordinary restraining order would do a person any good.

It's everybody's business!

Just how much will the Domestic Violence Prevention Law help children?

In the opinion of lawyer Jennifer Wang, "The enactment of the law is good news." Ms. Wang, who has worked hard to see the law passed, serves as director of the Awakening Foundation. The new law, states Wang, highlights the message that domestic violence is no longer just a family matter. As for how much actual difference the law makes, we will just have to wait and see how well it is enforced.

On that score, Yu Han-yi holds out little hope. "We have the most progressive laws anywhere, but a lot of the provisions aren't properly enforced." As an example, Yu points to the provisions in the Children's Welfare Law against leaving children unattended. (The law states that for children aged 6 through 12, parents, foster parents, guardians, or other persons charged with responsibility for the children's care must not leave such children unattended in an environment where there is a high risk of harm or injury. Children less than 6 years old, or children requiring special care, must not be left alone under any circumstances, nor must they be left in the charge of unqualified carers.) This same provision was debated in Hong Kong, but was rejected due the opposition of local women's groups, who argued that the law would be difficult to enforce as long as Hong Kong lacked the necessary child care facilities. The legislature in Taiwan, on the other hand, passed this provision without devoting serious thought to its enforcement.

"People aren't serious about child welfare in Taiwan. They say all the right things, but they don't carry through with anything." That is the bitter assessment of longtime veteran Yu Han-yi.

When will our children be able to grow up surrounded by love and nurturing, without fear of abuse? Taiwan has gotten off to a late start in the field of child welfare, and much remains to be done. We have established the most progressive legal framework in Asia; now we must work to instill more progressive attitudes among the general public.