When parents turn child abusers, violence and neglect can be prevented via training and public vigilance

No child deserves to suffer any form of abuse. Like most people in Hong Kong, I was totally appalled and heartbroken by the horrific child neglect case which went to court last month (“Mother jailed for 15 years for starving seven-year-old daughter in ‘grotesquely shocking’ child abuse case”, June 29).

The case has triggered heated discussion as to whether penalties for child neglect should be increased. While I trust that an increase in penalty may serve as a deterrent to child abuse, sadly, this will not fully solve the problem and prevent future suffering.

It is more important to enhance public vigilance and alertness against child abuse, and improve the reporting mechanism in schools, so that child abuse cases can be identified as early as possible, and intervention and support can be provided in a timely manner (“Neglected 7-year-old child may not live past 20, Hong Kong court hears”, June 28).

According to the Social Welfare Department’s statistics on newly reported child abuse cases from January to March 2018, 65.2 per cent of the abusers, or 152 of a total of 233, were parents. It is incredibly alarming that over half of the abusers are actually parents. To address the issue, it is imperative that we focus on educating parents on how to parent without violence or neglect.