The Ministry of Health and Welfare on Friday proposed eight measures to improve child-placement services in response to the death of a one-year-old boy.
The ministry’s Social and Family Affairs Administration held the meeting to review the incident, in which a child was allegedly abused to death by a licensed childcare provider in Taipei in December last year. The Child Welfare League Foundation had temporarily placed the boy with the caregiver while seeking a family to adopt him.
The meeting included foundation representatives, specialists, and Taipei and New Taipei City government officials who discussed measures to improve the child-placement and adoption system.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
After about three hours, they proposed eight main measures, including that any child put up for adoption should be assessed by the local government.
Even if the parents or guardian reached out to an adoption agency, that organization should report the case to local officials for an assessment, they said.
Local governments should follow voluntary procedures for the pre-adoption placement of children, using local resources to provide assistance and funding, which should be supplemented by the central government, they said.
If local governments ask childcare providers to care for children in out-of-home placement, they should be subject to criteria, which the Social and Family Affairs Administration is considering enhancing with training, they said.
To improve interdepartmental communication, protection agencies should be responsible for child protection cases, while social welfare organizations should be in charge of children from vulnerable families, they said.
If disputes arise over the division of authority of cases involving different local governments, the central government can clarify who is responsible, they said.
The central and local governments are to increase training for recognizing child development and child abuse for child protection and childcare personnel, starting this year, they said.
Moreover, the ministry reaffirmed its newborn-care program, stipulating that for children under the age of three in out-of-home placement, the local health department can designate a pediatrician to monitor their health without the consent of their parents.
As for children in out-of-home placement who are under the care of full-time childcare providers, the ministry would invite local governments to discuss the frequency of mandatory home visits and guidelines.
The ministry asked the Child Welfare League Foundation, and the Taipei and New Taipei City governments to submit a case review report within 10 days.
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