DARUL IHSAN ORPHANAGE

DARUL IHSAN ORPHANAGE:

(Incident involving abused children): 16.

Dr Ahmad Mohd Magad asked the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (a) whether he will provide an update on the case involving abused children at the Darul Ihsan Orphanage; and (b) what steps are being taken to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents in orphanages and welfare homes for children.

The Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (Dr Vivian Balakrishnan): Mr Speaker, Sir, first of all, let me say that my staff and I were very troubled by the incident in Darul Ihsan Orphanage. A member of the staff had used abusive methods to discipline the residents in the Home. When we consider that these boys already come from dysfunctional or have unfortunate family circumstances, I think it makes the abuse

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even worse, and this is clearly unacceptable.

My Ministry's first priority, when we heard of this case, was to ensure that the abuse had stopped and the residents were safe. The staff member responsible had already been dismissed by the Home. A police report was made and I believe that person has now been charged and the court hearing is due later this month. A team of experienced social workers from my Ministry then met with all the residents of that Home and provided them with necessary counselling and emotional support. My Ministry views the ill-treatment of children very seriously, and we will not hesitate to take tough enforcement actions against anyone found guilty of mistreating children and young persons.

The incident in the Darul Ihsan Orphanage is a reminder of the important role and heavy responsibility that the Home Management Committee members have. They have to ensure that the Homes that they supervise are safe. In this particular case, my Ministry had to reproach the Management Committee for not disclosing the incidents more promptly to us, and we also warned them to comply strictly with all the regulations under the Children and Young Persons Act as well as the MCYS' specified Standards of Care. The Home has since worked hard to ensure that the proper systems are in place so that the Home is safe for children. They have consequently reviewed and improved their SOPs.

My Ministry has also implemented some additional measures to protect the welfare of residents in these Homes. For instance, I have instructed the Board of Visitors to extend their visits to the 10 non-gazetted Homes. Let me explain a little bit more on this point. We have 20 Homes which look after children in such circumstances. Ten of these 20 Homes

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are what we call "gazetted Homes" - in other words, they have statutory functions under the Children and Young Persons Act. Under this Act, I appoint a Board of Visitors who will visit and inspect the Homes and check on the conditions which the residents are living under. I have now decided to extend the Board of Visitors' role to also cover the children's Homes which today are not gazetted with statutory functions. So, for instance, a Home like the Darul Ihsan Orphanage is not a gazetted Home but, from now on, will receive visits from the Board of Visitors once every two months. These will be random visits so that they can go in and check on the conditions which are prevailing.

The Board of Visitors, after their visit, will report their observations directly to the Director of Social Welfare of my Ministry. And then from there on, we can take any necessary investigations or enforcement actions.

Secondly, my Ministry has also set up a Post Office Box address for the Board of Visitors, so that the residents can write directly to the Board of Visitors. These inputs will be forwarded to the members of the Board and these inputs can be sent to us anonymously - in other words, a kind of whistle-blowing mechanism within the Home itself. We have to do this because some of the young boys or girls there may feel shy or intimidated from making a specific complaint under their own name against a staff member. So this system provides another alternative channel. The Board of Visitors will then investigate any complaints or feedback given by these residents and then raise it with the Ministry or with the Home Management Committees.

The third thing we have done is to instruct that all children's Homes must display a national toll-free Child Protection

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helpline number. The Management Committees have been instructed to also educate the residents on the various channels of seeking help if they are abused or if they wish to report an incident of abuse, either involving themselves or one of their friends in the same Home. The residents have also been reminded that they have a right and that they should approach trusted adults - their relatives, friends, school teachers or indeed other volunteers in the Home if they face any such problems.

I would end by emphasising again that no child residing in any of our Homes should be subjected to any form of abuse. When it comes to protecting children, everyone has a role to play. And my Ministry will continue to look into what more we can do to ensure that this protection extends uniformly and effectively to each and every single child. We will work with the Police and our community partners to prevent a recurrence of such incidents in the Homes.

Mr Sin Boon Ann (Tampines): Sir, how often does the Board of Visitors actually make visits to these Homes to investigate the conditions under which these Homes are operating? My second question relates to the extent of awareness that residents of these Homes have. Sometimes they do not know that they are being abused unless they are told in advance the kind of treatment to expect, what kind of punishment conditions they should expect if they breach the rules, and where does one cross the line of abuse. How much of this has the Ministry done to educate the residents?

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Sir, the Board of Visitors should visit each Home at least once in two months. Under the Children and Young Persons Act, the Board has the right to enter a Home at all reasonable times - in other words, they do not have to pre-inform and get everything in the

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Home arranged spick and span so that what they see is not a realistic picture.

On awareness, the Member is absolutely right. There is no point in having all the systems if the residents in the Home do not know how to use these avenues. That is why we have to, first, make sure that avenues are possible, for instance, the Post Office box address, make sure that the Board of Visitors goes in. And when they go in, they can also, at random, select residents to speak to.

Third, we have also reminded the Homes to put up a notice board to say that this is the national helpline number the residents can call. And also, as the Member has suggested, when any child comes in to have a standard briefing, this is a Home, these are the rules which apply to the boys or girls there, as well as the rules which the staff need to comply with, so that people are, in a sense, aware of their rights and the avenues for redress. But the most important thing is to understand that these are vulnerable children, and that staff, volunteers and management committee members are in a position of trust and that everyone really has to do his part. And it requires, in that sense, an entire village to bring up these children. So any one who is involved in these Homes needs to view himself as a member of the village. And if we can get that done, restore trust, then focus on restoring these children to the rightful trajectories which their life should take.