The Child Welfare League Foundation has been temporarily barred from providing adoption and foster services until an appropriate plan is in place to improve staffing issues, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Lee Li-feng (李麗芬) said yesterday.
The foundation has been at the center of a controversy involving the death of a one-year-old child under its care.
The Taipei City Government referred the case to the foundation, which temporarily placed the boy in the home of a contracted caregiver surnamed Liu (劉) while it tried to adopt him.
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times
The boy was allegedly abused to death by Liu in December last year.
In addition to halting new adoptions, ongoing adoptions may continue under supervision by local governments, with more visitations by officials and foundation staff, Lee told a news conference in Taipei.
The foundation has been found in need of an internal staffing review, and would be barred from providing adoption services until it is complete, she said.
After the foundation submits a report with a plan for improvement, and a review meeting with a group of experts, the Taipei and New Taipei City governments and the foundation on Friday, the ministry would reassess whether it may resume its activities, she added.
There are 468 children in Taiwan awaiting adoption and 200 of them are younger than three years old, Lee said, there are currently eight organizations in Taiwan involved in facilitating adoptions.
“The local government gave up too early,” Lee said, adding that the ministry believes that the adoption follow-up process should not be left solely under the purview of civic groups.
Liu and her younger sister have been detained on suspicion of child abuse and causing injuries leading to death, but have yet to be charged.
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