雙語社評齊齊聽

[英語 (足本收聽)] Presented by Dr KWOK, Yuk-yin Frieda, Lecturer of Hong Kong Community College, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

[普通話 (足本收聽)] Presented by Dr JIAO, Nina, Lecturer of Hong Kong Community College, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

In the wake of the child abuse case at Children's Residential Home, the government has largely completed its first-phase review report on the services of residential childcare centres, making around 30 recommendations.

[ENG audio 1]

Children's Residential Home, which is under the Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children (HKSPC), saw a shocking, large-scale child abuse scandal late last year. So far 34 staff members have been charged and gone on trial one after another. Two defendants who pleaded guilty have been sentenced to four months to around half a year in prison. The judge hearing their cases described the fact that professional child carers could have done such things as unimaginable. At least 40 children were harmed in the Children's Residential Home scandal, and it is obvious that a systemic problem was at play. The roles played by the management of the HKSPC and the Social Welfare Department(SWD) have been in the spotlight. The public expects the government to seriously investigate who is to blame and prevent similar incidents from happening again.

[ENG audio 2]

In April this year, the SWD announced the creation of the Committee on Review of Residential Child Care and Related Services. The first-phase review report on the services of residential childcare centres and residential special childcare centres has been completed in this initial stage. Regarding the improvement of the services of residential childcare centres, the report recommends improving manpower allocation and increasing the proportion of childcare staff. In addition, a registration system for the superintendents of childcare centres will also be introduced to ensure that they have completed the designated child protection training courses. As for improving the internal supervision of organisations, the report proposes setting up a mechanism for reporting child abuse cases. An idea being considered is requiring the superintendent to report suspected child abuse cases. In terms of strengthening the SWD's supervision, the report recommends that nurses become part of the SWD Child Care Centres Advisory Inspectorate as health and hygiene inspectors. The inspection list should be so updated as to include the physical condition and medical records of a child as items of observation. A delegation of healthcare workers, the social welfare sector and established people in society should also be invited to conduct sudden checks to inspect their services. Residential centres should also be required to install a closed-circuit television monitoring system.

[ENG audio 3]

In the final analysis, the child abuse at Children's Residential Home is a problem of insufficient supervision. The internal management of the organisation that manages the residential home failed, which encouraged child abuse behaviour. The weak supervision of the SWD led to the delay in the detection of child abuse. The review report is a forward-looking one — it is mainly aimed at preventing the recurrence of similar incidents. No doubt the more than 30 improvement suggestions put forward are steps in the right direction, and they are long on specifics. What is puzzling, however, is why the careless and inadequate supervision was condoned for so many years until such an outrageous scandal broke out, when there was suddenly the awareness of the need to strengthen regulation.

[ENG audio 4]

When it comes to residential homes for young children, there are only two options in Hong Kong. In response to queries from the public about why the HKSPC can continue to operate Children's Residential Home, government officials from the previous administration said that a rash move to cancel its services might affect children in need. Such a statement shows exactly the situation in which the government is hamstrung by other organisations and baulks at action. When it comes to the case of Children's Residential Home, it is necessary to thoroughly investigate whether anyone was in the know but chose not to report the incidents and covered them up. It is not enough to hold the frontline child abusers criminally responsible merely. In addition, the government should actively consider attracting more organisations to operate such services so as to avoid relying on one or two non-profit-making organisations.

[ENG audio 5]

改革監管文化防虐兒 童樂居責任追究到底

童樂居虐兒事件，政府針對留宿幼兒中心服務的首階段檢討報告大致完成，提出約30項建議。

[PTH audio 1]

香港保護兒童會轄下童樂居，去年底驚爆大規模虐兒醜聞，迄今有34名職員被起訴，案件陸續開審，其中兩名認罪被告，判囚介乎4個月至半年左右，主審法官形容，難以想像專業兒童照顧者竟會做出這樣的行為。童樂居醜聞，至少40名兒童受害，事件明顯存在系統性的問題，保護兒童會管理層和社署角色備受關注，外界期望當局切實追究責任，同時防止同類事件重演。

[PTH audio 2]

今年4月，社署宣布成立兒童住宿照顧及相關服務檢討委員會，針對留宿幼兒中心及住宿特殊幼兒中心服務的第一階段檢討報告，現已初步完成。有關改善留宿幼兒中心服務的部分，報告建議改善人手配置，提高幼兒工作人員人手比例，另外亦會引入院長登記制度，確保有完成指定保護兒童培訓課程；完善機構內部監督方面，報告提出訂立舉報虐兒機制、考慮規定院長必須舉報懷疑虐兒個案；加強社署監管方面，報告建議社署幼兒中心督導組加入由護士出任的保健衛生督察，更新巡查清單，將幼兒身體狀况及醫療紀錄等納入觀察之列，另外亦會安排醫護、社福界及社會賢達組團突擊探訪視察服務，以及要求留宿中心安裝閉路電視監察系統。

[PTH audio 3]

童樂居虐兒，歸根究柢就是監管不力的問題，營運機構內部管理崩壞，助長虐兒行為，社署監管不力，則導致虐兒情况遲遲未被發現。檢討報告「向前看」，以防止同類事件重演為主，所提的30多項改善建議，大方向當然正確，內容亦算具體，令人疑惑的反而是監管粗疏不足情况，為何多年來一直得到容忍，直至鬧出如此離譜的醜聞，才意識到要加強規管。

[PTH audio 4]

本港僅得兩間幼童住宿機構可供選擇。對於外界質疑保護兒童會仍可繼續營運童樂居，上屆政府官員表示，貿然取消服務，可能影響有需要的幼兒。有關說法正正道出政府受制於人、投鼠忌器的處境。童樂居事件，有沒有人知情不報、掩飾隱瞞，必須徹查到底，單是追究前線虐兒者刑責，並不足夠。另外，政府應積極考慮吸引更多機構，參與相關服務營運，避免再依靠一兩個非牟利機構。

[PTH audio 5]

明報社評2022.8.18