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SCMP Reporter

Parents who left their babies in the care of others were putting them at risk of abuse, experts warned yesterday.

 Almost 90 per cent of 300 parents questioned left their children in the care of other people.

 But 70 per cent had never worried about the possibility of them being abused.

 Most said they did not check on their children's physical condition regularly, while only half actively observed their emotional behaviour.

 Although child abuse in the SAR is not particularly serious - only 381 cases were reported last year - parents' awareness about the issue was alarmingly low, said Maggie Ng Miu-man, chief editor of Baby Magazine, which conducted the survey.

 'It is amazing that only 30 per cent of parents ever give serious thought to the possibility of their child being abused,' she said.

 'Parents in other countries are much more knowledgeable about the issue.'  Chief of service and consultant paediatrician at Tuen Mun Hospital Dr So Kwan-tung said most parents became aware of the situation only after their children were seriously hurt.

 'Child abuse often leaves signs that can be detected,' Dr So said. 'But unfortunately most parents seldom notice the state of their children and often only discover they have been abused when the damage shows.

 'Most child-abuse cases have a traumatising impact on children.

 'Fifty per cent of victims of Shaken Baby Syndrome, for example, suffer brain damage from which they can never fully recover.

 'So the risk is really high.

 'Child abuse can be detected by examining a baby's body regularly, by questioning babysitters and by actively observing children's daily behaviour.'  Caritas Family Service social work supervisor Eva Wong Yeelo-lau said child abuse could be prevented if parents spent more time with their children.

 Even if children were not abused, they would feel alienated from their parents if they were raised by others, she said.



Babies left to carers at risk of abuse