The death of a one-year-old boy nicknamed Kai-kai (剴剴), allegedly from abuse at the hands of his caregiver has raised concerns.
In response, Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) said that the social safety net still has some holes that need to be “mended.”
Hoping for the social safety net to work flawlessly and for each and every individual is simply not viable.
This would only work if the government committed to taking care of every single family or if every Taiwanese could be relied upon to be merciful and kind.
The thing about the social safety net is that it is not an actual net. Instead, it is an abstract concept of prevention.
Just as a safety net in the circus is there to protect acrobats in an aerial show, the nation’s safety net, consisting of social networks, provides support from public and private sectors.
That is, for a social safety net to be comprehensive, it requires an attentive community, the police to work together with the public, public assistance, healthcare services and support from educational and judicial systems.
Suicide, domestic violence and abuse mostly derive from problems with household incomes or family relationships. Personalities and characteristics are often a major contributing factor.
One might hope that moral, compassionate people would not harm another human being. Unfortunately, ordinary people are capable of horrific things.
The social safety net alone is not enough to help the disadvantaged and marginalized. Sometimes the system is inadequate and social workers simply cannot be expected to work wonders.
Some families applying for emergency relief or low-income subsidy due to unforeseen circumstances might find themselves unable to get the help they need.
Some families end up killing themselves by burning charcoal in their apartments, because they are desperate, having amassed large debts with unscrupulous money lenders. If they had asked a local government for help, would the government have helped them?
For those in need, not being qualified or eligible for application is an obstacle in seeking help.
However, just because the applicants are refused does not mean bureaucrats lack compassion and empathy. These public servants are put under suspicion when all they were doing was following the law.
Kai-kai was a child in foster care. The solution to his plight should have started with addressing why his family was so poor.
Unfortunately, he was placed in the care of a person who fatally abused him.
There have been 66 recorded child abuse cases over the past three years, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said.
To solve and prevent such problems lies in caregivers rather than the social safety net.
A full-time licensed caregiver abused a boy to death. It is an issue of the education system not working and individuals being morally bankrupt.
Taiwan should really look at how to cultivate people’s sense of right and wrong instead of paying attention to fights between the ruling party and the opposition parties.
Shiao Fu-song is a lecturer at National Taitung University.
Translated by Hsieh Yi-ching
The official media of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) reacted to the May 20 inauguration speech of President William Lai (賴清德) by asserting: “Lai’s words reveal his true intention of sacrificing peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait for his own desire for power.” This baseless accusation by Beijing that Lai is manipulating Taiwanese to resist unification with China for his personal gain, is part of a broader CCP information warfare campaign that has intensified since Lai’s election. This campaign, orchestrated by the United Front Work Department, the CCP’s agency for coordinating influence operations and propaganda, aims to demoralize Taiwanese,
US aerospace company Boeing Co has in recent years been involved in numerous safety incidents, including crashes of its 737 Max airliners, which have caused widespread concern about the company’s safety record. It has recently come to light that titanium jet engine parts used by Boeing and its European competitor Airbus SE were sold with falsified documentation. The source of the titanium used in these parts has been traced back to an unknown Chinese company. It is clear that China is trying to sneak questionable titanium materials into the supply chain and use any ensuing problems as an opportunity to
The Chinese Supreme People’s Court and other government agencies released new legal guidelines criminalizing “Taiwan independence diehard separatists.” While mostly symbolic — the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has never had jurisdiction over Taiwan — Tamkang University Graduate Institute of China Studies associate professor Chang Wu-ueh (張五岳), an expert on cross-strait relations, said: “They aim to explain domestically how they are countering ‘Taiwan independence,’ they aim to declare internationally their claimed jurisdiction over Taiwan and they aim to deter Taiwanese.” Analysts do not know for sure why Beijing is propagating these guidelines now. Under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), deciphering the
A few days after the presidential election, Nauru switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing. The “coincidence” fooled nobody. It was clearly a message to Taiwanese voters, punishing them for the audacity of electing President William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party. What was surprising was the stated reason for Nauru’s decision, which referenced UN Resolution 2758, even though China’s economic clout was the more obvious impetus. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long tried to push the idea that the resolution bars Taiwan from participation in the UN and states that Taiwan is a territory of China. It does