Child abuse hotline launched

Taiwan Parenting
1

Found this in today’s Taipei Times…

Taiwan Quick Take: Child abuse hotline launched
Taipei Times – Sunday, Apr 02, 2006, Page 3

The Jing Chuan Child Safety Foundation established an 0800580515 hotline yesterday for the public to report child abuse and other cases that jeopardize the safety of children. Foundation officials said that negligence was responsible for as many as 99 percent of all child injuries last year. As 59 percent of child injuries occurred at home, the officials noted that allowing children to stay home alone can easily lead to accidents. First among the top-10 news stories involving child safety last year compiled by the foundation was the death of a three-year-old boy who was tattooed and tortured by his mother’s friend. Other news items on the list included the death of a four-year-old girl who was abused by her drunken father; the death of a five-year-old girl who fell from her apartment when her mother was out; a fire triggered by three children playing with fire while home alone; the beating up of a boy by his father in public and the injury of a two-year-old child by an automatic car window.

2

Well, that’s obviously a step in the right direction and when I read it first I thought that the phone would be ringing off the hook with all the carelessness and abuse that I have seen in my days in Taiwan.

Then I thought about it a little and realized their phone might not ring at all because what I consider careless and negligent is just a way of life in this country. What immediately comes to mind is the kids on scooters with no helmets(oddly enough it seems ok for kids not to wear helmets while adults get a ticket) and kids hanging out of the sun roof of cars. And as for abuse, unless it is something extreme, I think most people here are very good at turning a blind eye.

3

It’s about focking time!

4

kids without helmets is actually illegal… i’ve seen someone get booked once…

as for the sunroofs… i’ll second that… don’t know how many times i’ve seen that after a quick run in the twisties and thinking “imagine xxx comes around that corner right now… and here’s daddy driving on the wrong side of the road with his kids standing up like that…”