More parents have said that their children were given tranquilizers by staff at a private kindergarten in New Taipei City, in what might be the “tip of the iceberg” of a broader crisis in the childcare sector, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers said yesterday.
Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) told a news conference at the legislature in Taipei that he knows 11 parents who have decided to press charges.
Parents have filed criminal complaints with police about the kindergarten in Banciao District (板橋) after detecting alarming behavioral changes in their children, including tantrums and self-harming, from February to April.
Photo: CNA
On April 18, the New Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office indicted a teacher surnamed Chao (趙) on charges connected to physical abuse and giving children medical drugs that were not prescribed for them, including benzodiazepine and barbital.
The teacher was released on bail of NT$20,000 and transferred to a different job as she awaits trial.
The city’s education department dragged its feet in investigating the incident and its involvement was limited to giving the parents one telephone call per week after media reported the story, Lo said.
The department should have tested all children in the kindergarten’s care upon being alerted to the situation, he said, adding that a parent surnamed Chiang (江) tested his child and found drug residues a week after the story was reported.
Chiang said that their three-year-old child tested positive for barbital at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital on Thursday.
The test result suggests that the child had been given huge doses of dangerous medical substances, he said, adding that the authorities should work faster to uncover what happened at the kindergarten and prevent a cover-up, as the facility’s video records from last month have gone missing.
Legislator Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源), who was formerly a doctor, said barbital is a drug used to treat child epilepsy, and is slowly being replaced by better alternatives.
Benzodiazepine is a schedule 4 sleeping aid for adults that can cause addiction, Chiu said.
The victims need to be monitored for long-term damage to their health as a result of the misuse of drugs, Chiu said.
Chiang said that he received a call from the education department that was largely useless, as the officials offered no help to test pupils at the kindergarten or help parents find a new childcare facility.
Chiang said the experience made him feel helpless, as he was unable to protect his child or find justice.
“I am ashamed to call myself a father,” he said.
The New Taipei City Government should be launching a probe into the affair instead of pretending that there were no victims beyond the children of the three parents who first pressed charges, he said.
Chao was the teacher in charge of children aged four, but the known victims were from two to three years old, so the direct carers of the victims should also be investigated, he said.
“What happened was a very serious thing, but no one seems to care,” Chiang said.
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