Control Yuan faults health ministry, city governments over child abuse death

Taipei, May 29 (CNA) Taiwan's top government watchdog on Thursday ordered corrective measures be taken by the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) and the Taipei and New Taipei city governments following systemic failures that led to the death of a one-year-old boy who was abused to death while in foster care.

Following a May 13 ruling by the Taipei District Court that sentenced two sisters to life imprisonment and 18 years for torturing the child in their care to death, three Control Yuan members held a news conference on Thursday to address the systemic failures that led to the tragedy involving the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴).

According to the Control Act, the Control Yuan "may propose corrective measures to the Executive Yuan or its subordinate organs for improvement" after investigating their operations.

Oversight failures by MOHW

Yeh Ta-hua (葉大華), one of the three members, said that the MOHW is the government agency responsible for approving and supervising organizations that provide adoption placement services.

In the case of Kai Kai, the Child Welfare League Foundation (CWLF) was the organization that matched the sisters -- both registered nannies surnamed Liu (劉) -- to care for Kai Kai prior to adoption.

The MOHW is required to conduct annual inspections of such organizations' operations, Yeh said.

However, it was only after Kai Kai's death that a proper investigation uncovered seven major flaws in CWLF's services and mechanisms, including issues with caregiver management and social worker training, she said.

After Kai Kai was placed with the Liu sisters in September 2023, a CWLF social worker surnamed Chen (陳) visited him three times. Despite noticing some concerning signs such as missing teeth and large bruises on his forehead during those visits, Chen failed to question the caregivers' explanations of those injuries due to their existing partnership, Yeh said.

Chen instead concluded that the child was merely having difficulty adjusting to a new environment, which indicated her lack of professional sensitivity at identifying child abuse, Yeh said.

Echoing Yeh, Control Yuan member Wang Yu-ling (王幼玲) questioned how Chen could have had no suspicions about the underlying cause when a child lost three teeth and had a forehead injury.

"Whether it was a fall or some other kind of accident, those types of injuries should not appear on those parts of the body -- this is what professional sensitivity is about," Wang said, adding that trust between social worker and caregiver should be built on facts.

The MOHW's failure to properly supervise organizations providing adoption placement services was one of the factors that contributed to the breakdown of the child welfare system and to Kai Kai's tragic death, Yeh said.

New Taipei's failure to act on warning signs

Kai Kai was placed for adoption because his birth mother was unable to care for him, Yeh said. After New Taipei City Government designated his family a "vulnerable household" and began offering support services, the child was referred to the CWLF for care and adoption placement, she added.

Yeh noted that once the referral was made, the New Taipei City Government primarily relied on information from the foundation and did not question its decisions, as CWLF was an MOHW-authorized placement organization.

When the foundation reported that the child was having trouble adjusting to his new environment after being placed with the Liu sisters, the city government failed to conduct follow-up visits or initiate inter-agency communication to verify his well-being, thereby missing a crucial opportunity to detect signs of abuse, Yeh said.

She added that comments by supervisors on the case records for Kai Kai's biological family were delayed by several months, noting that some records from January 2023 were not reviewed until as late as February 2024 -- around two months after Kai Kai's death on Dec. 24, 2023.

Although Kai Kai experienced a significant change in his care environment after being placed with the Liu sisters, the city government failed to properly review and assess the case records, Yeh said, pointing to a lack of diligence in its supervisory system.

Taipei's lapses in case monitoring

While the Liu sisters had registered as home-based caregivers with Taipei City Government, it was only after Kai Kai's death that the city's Department of Social Welfare discovered the childcare location differed from the one originally registered, Yeh said.

She added that the department also only then learned that the environment where Kai Kai was cared for was filthy and reeked of cigarette smoke -- conditions that clearly violated childcare regulations.

Yeh also noted that photos taken by Chen in September 2023 clearly showed large bruises on Kai Kai's forehead, but staff at the Wenshan District home-based childcare service center -- responsible for conducting visits for children newly placed with caregivers -- failed to record the injury in their reports.

It showed that the Taipei City Government's guidance, management, and oversight of home-based caregivers was perfunctory, Yeh said.

Responses from MOHW, city governments

In response to the Control Yuan's order to take corrective measures, Chou Tao-chun (周道君), acting head of the MOHW's Social and Family Affairs Administration, told CNA later Thursday that the ministry has conducted a broad review and made several administrative adjustments, both before and after child placements.

One example he cited is requiring staff at home-based childcare service centers to increase the frequency of visits to caregivers looking after children prior to adoption.

"In principle, they are now required to conduct at least one visit per month during the early stages, so that any signs of improper treatment can be detected as early as possible," he added.

Taipei's Department of Social Welfare said in a statement that after Kai Kai was newly placed into care with the Liu sisters on Sept. 1, 2023, staff at the home-based childcare service center conducted an initial visit on Sept. 26, confirming that care was being provided at the registered location and that no irregularities were observed at the time.

An unannounced visit had originally been scheduled for late December, but tragically, Kai Kai passed away on the 25th of that month, the department added.

New Taipei City Government said in a statement that regarding the issue of supervision -- referring to the delayed input from supervisors on case records for "vulnerable households" -- the Social Welfare Department will convene a panel of experts to review the service process and make a decision once the official notice from the Control Yuan is received.