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Child sexual abuse cases alert public

The Young Reporter (1994, January 17), 26(04), pp. 1.
Author: Chloris Li.
Permanent URL - https://sys01.lib.hkbu.edu.hk/bujspa/purl.php?&did=bujspa0001981

By CHLORIS LI

THE dramatic increase in the number of child sexual abuse cases alarms the society as the Social Welfare Department revealed earlier that cases rose from 29 in 1992 to 48 in 1993.

“Children who have been sexually abused age from 3 to 16,” said Mrs Priscilla Lui, the director of Against Child Abuse, “Some victims are even babies when the abusers touch them and use them to satisfy their sexual desire.”

Against Child Abuse received 21 cases about sexual abuse in 1992 and seven of them involved incest.

The abusers were mainly the victims’ fathers, grandfathers, elder brothers or sisters.

More female victims reported to the organisation than male victims because females had a risk of getting pregnant, Mrs Lui explained.

Mrs Lui said the victims were mainly lower class. Most of their parents had only received primary or junior-secondary education.

“Recent figures show that abusers had attained a higher education level,” Mrs Lui said.

Against Child Abuse receives cases by telephone from the victims’ parents or neighbours.

“Compared with figures of 1992, more reports, with a double increase, are made from children themselves recently,” Mrs Lui said.

The Protection of Children and Juvenile Ordinance implemented in November gave a new guide for the protection of children.

A “Child Assessment Order” is added to the new ordinance. The order permits the Social Welfare Department to inform the parents to bring children who are suspected to be abused to psychological assessment.

After the assessment, the Social Welfare Department must decide whether to take the children away or not in two weeks. If they decide to do so, the case worker must apply for a protection order in 48 hours.

The new ordinance helps the children who are suspected to be abused physically or psychologically. If the parents do not obey the order, the department has a right to offer the children a shelter.

Miss Susanna Ho, information officer of the Social Welfare Department, said that the new ordinance had not been referred to after its implementation.

“Although we have not mentioned sexual abuse specially in the ordinance, we protect all the children including those who suffer from sexual abuse,” said Miss Ho.

A clinical psychologist of the Social Welfare Department said, “We also had a psychological test in the past,

“But now, we have the legal power to bring the children to our department, even though the parents do not want to bring them to us.”

“The new ordinance is helpful to border-line cases as the ordinance extends the protection to those who are psychologically abused which cannot be overtly observed,” she said.

“When the court transfers a case to us, we will have a psychological test with the children to confirm their experience,” she added, “We chat and play games with them. We can observe their performance through the activities.”

“Psychologically, the children who have been sexually abused are affected seriously. They will be afraid of strangers, especially men. They even do not trust their family members as in most cases, the abusers are their relatives,” she said.

“When they grow up, they do not have any confidence in others. They will rebel against or suspect other people,” she added.

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