Over 80 per cent of Hongkongers support making it mandatory to report suspected child abuse, survey finds
Hong Kong Free Press
Over 80 per cent of Hongkongers support making it mandatory to report suspected cases of child abuse, a survey has found. An NGO has urged better awareness of positive parenting to eradicate corporal punishment against children.
Commissioned by Save the Children, the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Centre for Communication and Public Opinion Survey conducted a telephone survey, during which they called 1,008 Hongkongers between September and October last year.
The survey found that 83.2 per cent of respondents supported the legislation of a mandatory reporting mechanism for suspected child abuse and neglect cases to monitor professionals who have regular contact with children.
The government announced plans for such a mechanism last September, following the death of a five-year-old girl whose body was covered in wounds.
Save the Children spokesperson Winnie Ng said at a press conference about the survey findings on Thursday that while corporal punishment might not equate to child abuse, it could still pose a risk to children and lead to serious abuse cases.
Despite the overwhelming support for making it mandatory to report suspected cases of abuse, the survey found that only 23 per cent of respondents said they always took action when witnessing other adults “beating, slapping or verbally humiliating their children on the street.”
Among the respondents who said they chose not to act, over 50 per cent said that they were reluctant to intervene in other families’ personal matters, and 30.4 per cent said they were not sure whether the incident constituted child abuse.
Ian Li, advocacy manager of Save the Children, said the organisation hoped the public could understand that it was no longer an internal family matter once parents inflicted harm upon their kids.
Sophia, a mother of four who also attended the press conference, said on Thursday that she hoped that there could be more resources to teach positive parenting, and more community childcare support to relieve parents’ pressure.
She said that she began adopting positive parenting techniques after attending classes provided by her children’s school, and that she could see her children learning by her example.
“Maybe because they saw how I dealt with my own emotions, so when they are in an argument, they will resolve it by talking instead of fighting,” said Sophia.
While 41 per cent of respondents said they thought corporal punishment was commonly used by parents or carers in Hong Kong, other surveys suggested otherwise, said Li.
A 2019 survey by Against Child Abuse showed that around half of the child respondents said they had experienced corporal punishment. Another survey by Save the Children in 2021 found that 37 per cent of young people were worried about being kicked out of their homes by their parents in the past year.
Save the Children urged the government to start the legislation as soon as possible, and to treat children’s best interests as the “basic principle” in all steps of the reporting mechanism and supporting services. The administration should also ensure that children’s opinions were heard in the legislative process, the group said.
Michelle Ng, assistant advocacy manger of the NGO, said that the group hoped the legislation could have an educational purpose, rather than just be used to punish parents.
“We have said all along to ban corporal punishment, what we want to do is to conduct public education so that parents know that hitting their children is wrong, and that there are other parenting method alternatives,” said Ng.
According to statistics released by the Social Welfare Department, there were 1,367 newly registered cases of child abuse in 2021, up from 940 the year before.
A Legislative Council paper published in 2020 said the existing system of voluntary reporting means that victims’ family members and “relevant professionals,” such as doctors and teachers, do not have a “statutory duty to report suspected abuse cases,” which hinders identification and intervention.
Children’s rights groups have expressed support for a mandatory mechanism. Former education secretary Kevin Yeung, however, said in 2021 that it was unfair to place the “sole responsibility” of identifying potential child abuse on teachers.
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