49 of the same Act have always lacked specific identification criteria. The
“hindrance to the physical and mental health of children” referred to in
subparagraph 1, Article 83 of the same Act confuses first-line social workers.
The investigation results also hardly convince victims’ family members. The
Ministry of Health and Welfare claimed that it has issued an interpretation in
writing to explain the elements constituting the physical and mental abuse on
October 2, 2014, but the interpretation is still ambiguous. Considering that the
legal definition or identification criteria for “physical and mental abuse” and
“hindrance to the physical and mental health” still remain undefined, it is
difficult to expect consistency in the law-enforcement standards adopted by
various social welfare authorities. Upon investigation and subsequent followup by the Control Yuan, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has recommended
various social welfare authorities invite regulatory units and relevant
departments to convene meetings for discussion of this before rendering any
administrative decision. The Ministry of Health and Welfare also makes the
“Juvenile and Child Abuse and Neglect Crisis Diagnosis Form” available to
social workers of various counties/cities. In order for various local
governments to reach an agreement on the practices referred to in Article 49
of the Protection of Children and Youth Welfare and Rights Act, the Ministry
will work with local social welfare workers to continue improvements through
education and training.
140. When news broke of the two blatant cases of binding young children with
adhesive tape and confining them to seats for a prolonged period of time in Chiayi
and Taichung, the local social welfare authorities all thought to consider whether
such behavior was repeated or not to determine if it fell under the “physical and
mental abuse” requirements defined in the Protection of Children and Youth
Welfare and Rights Act. The amended Criminal Code already expressly provides
that repetition does not constitute a prerequisite for “abuse.” Even if the
prerequisites defined for administrative versus criminal rules are not necessarily
identical, it is questionable when social welfare authorities attach higher
requirements to illegal administrative cases, which are usually considered minor,
than the criminal cases, which are usually considered major; and whether the
same practice may be applied to all child abuse cases uniformly warrants further
discussion. Upon investigation and subsequent follow-up by the Control Yuan,
the Ministry of Health and Welfare has directed the local social welfare
authorities to render judgment based on factors that include the offender’s
violation, the subject perpetrating the abuse, the motive of the abuse and the
results of the abuse, as well as academic theories and practical experience, on a
case-by-case basis prior to rendering any administrative decision. They are to do
this when dealing with any of the complicated types of child abuse, and to refrain
from judging whether the “physical and mental abuse” can be evaluated simply
on the grounds of the “frequency of occurrence.”
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