YOUNG GIRLS REFERRED FOR PROTECTION

Column No : 1960

YOUNG GIRLS REFERRED FOR PROTECTION: 5.

Mdm Cynthia Phua asked the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (a) how many cases of young girls were referred to the Ministry for child protection from January 2005 as compared to the whole of 2004; (b) who referred these cases to the Ministry; and (c) what actions, if any, were taken against those who exploited these girls.

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon (for the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports): Sir, I would like to thank Mdm Cynthia Phua for her concern on child abuse. In 2004, there were 102 cases of girls below 16 years old referred to the Ministry for child protection. In comparison, 2005, saw 104 of such cases.

Most of these referrals were made by schools, hospitals, Police and social workers.

All referrals for child protection are investigated, and 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. MCYS will also apply for a Care and Protection Order for the child at the Juvenile Court. Perpetrators may be prosecuted in court for the criminal acts. If found guilty, they can be sentenced to a fine or imprisonment, or both. The Court may also order them to undergo mandatory counselling, psychotherapy and other rehabilitation programmes.

Mdm Cynthia Phua (Aljunied): Sir, in the light of the recent reports of young girls offering sex for money to buy luxury goods, what is the Ministry going to highlight to any like-minded girls that they should seek help and counselling? Is it at the school level or beyond the school level?

The second question is whether the Minister will consider giving more exposure to the Ministry's counselling service, if there is, on the website or through other public education media.

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: Thank you for the suggestion. I would like to inform the Member that the Ministry, the VWOs, Police and schools have a multi-agency counselling team to help these girls. So far, they have held a lot of seminars for the professionals, especially for the teachers, police and counsellors of family service centres. They also conduct a lot of training courses in schools. Last year, they even published a Child-at-Risk booklet and also to let the children know their rights. The teachers are also trained on how to observe all these problems.

We also encourage some of the counsellors of family service centres and grassroots leaders that if they want to go for further training on how to help these children they can come forward to learn from the various VWOs. I am sure that the Member also knows that in 2001 the Children and Young Persons Act was amended to include emotional and psychological abuse, and not just physical and sexual abuse. I think there are enough channels for the children to seek help. But this is a two-way approach. It is not just encouraging the kids to know their rights and where to go for help but we also encourage the professionals to observe and keep a close eye on the children's development.