CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT CASES

CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT CASES

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48.

Assoc. Prof. Kalyani K Mehta asked the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports if he can provide the number of cases of child abuse and neglect for the past five years, with a breakdown according to age, gender, type of abuse and sources of referral.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: My Ministry investigated an average of 175 cases per year of alleged child abuse, over the last five years. The number of cases has been declining over the last three years. Most of these cases were referred to my Ministry by schools, hospitals, social workers and police.

The most common form of child abuse was physical abuse, which accounted for about 51% of all cases, followed by sexual abuse at 34%, physical neglect at 9% and emotional abuse at 6%.

64% of the victims of abuse were female, while 36% were males. Boys were more likely to be subjected to physical abuse while girls were more likely to be sexually abused. Slightly more than one third of the children were between ages seven to 11 years old and another one-third was between 12 to below 16 years old.

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My Ministry takes a serious view towards the abuse of children. Each child is given specialised help depending on the assessment by a multi-disciplinary team of professionals. Such a team comprises pediatricians, psychologists and senior child protection officers. Where necessary, MCYS will apply for a Care and Protection Order for the child at the Juvenile Court.

Perpetrators will be prosecuted in Court for the criminal acts. If found guilty, they could be sentenced to a fine or imprisonment, or both. The Court may also order them to undergo mandatory counselling, psychotherapy and other rehabilitation programmes.

However, our aim is still to encourage parents and family members to seek help early if they have difficulties managing their children or are undergoing stressful life events. In this regard, we work closely with Family Service Centres in the community to provide the necessary support and assistance to families at-risk of abusing or neglecting their children.

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