Taipei health officials on Wednesday said they would implement reforms after a one-year-old child allegedly died from abuse while under the care of an in-home childcare provider contracted by the city. The Child Welfare League Foundation, the accused’s employer, has been barred from providing adoption and foster services, pending a staffing review. However, the foundation is only one of many civic groups, which employ a total of 4,272 caregivers in Taipei alone.
Deaths and injuries of children from abuse by caregivers have occurred numerous times in the past. The issue would not be resolved by restricting individual employers or even by reforming policies at the county or municipal level. Strict reforms are urgently needed at the national level.
Past child abuse incidents have involved in-home caregivers and nannies, and staff at kindergartens, daycare centers and orphanages. Last month, the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office charged the owner of a daycare center and two others with involuntary manslaughter after one of them smothered a baby last year. In her testimony, the accused said that she had “learned by example,” and that no one taught her how to put a baby to bed.
In 2019, the owner of a daycare center in Tainan was charged with manslaughter. Two years earlier, she had grabbed a one-year-old baby by the legs, shook her and dropped her on her head, resulting in the baby’s death. Other incidents include: abuse of children leading to hospitalization at two separate Taichung daycares in 2018, as well as the death of an 11-year-old boy in a Miaoli orphanage in 2016.
The boy had been thrown violently to the ground by a caregiver following an argument, police said at the time.
An editorial titled “Childcare system needs overhaul” published by the Taipei Times on April 8, 2020, attributed the situation to a system that prioritizes examinations over practical training, low pay for childcare workers and overburdened childcare centers that lead to burnout.
“How can a worker in a center with a caregiver-to-child ratio of 1:5 only be paid about NT$20,000? … even the most compassionate, patient and adoring childcare workers become burned out under [such] poor working conditions,” the editorial said.
The accused caregiver was arrested this week, and cited low pay and work-related stress as factors that led to her alleged actions.
Pay in many sectors is notoriously low, but given the increasingly dire birthrate in the country, it would seem particularly pressing to address the shortage, work conditions and training of childcare providers.
First, childcare workers should be required to undergo practical training as part of their education, which would ideally put them up against the most challenging childcare scenarios. They should also be required to shadow experienced, certified caregivers for the first year of employment, and undergo a psychological evaluation before being certified.
Second, caregivers should receive compensation commensurate with their challenging work, which could involve working long hours, communicating with parents, cleaning daycare facilities, feeding and changing children’s diapers and potentially dealing with children’s behavioral challenges. Daycares should also be sufficiently staffed to allow caregivers to monitor and support each other.
Finally, laws should be amended so that childcare workers who commit abuse leading to the death of children are subject to child murder charges.
To prevent harm to children, we must create an environment that supports caregivers’ needs and is intolerant of abuse. Lack of childcare resources has been cited by some people as what put them off having children. Improving these would benefit prospective parents and childcare workers, and could prevent the abuse of children.
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