BILL TO REQUIRE REPORTING OF CHILD ABUSE HEADS TO LEGCO
Alarm raised at prospect of professionals facing legal trouble for not promptly alerting authorities
A bill requiring social workers, teachers and healthcare professionals to report suspected child abuse cases will head to the legislature this month, but concerns have been raised over whether they may unintentionally run afoul of the new law.
The proposal unveiled by the Labour and Welfare Bureau yesterday requires most cases to be reported as soon as practicable, but a delay is allowed if deemed necessary and in the best interests of the child. The bill will be submitted to lawmakers in mid-June and take effect 18 months after being passed and gazetted.
“We wished to expand the safety net of child protection. Even though the children may not be able to seek help on their own, someone could ring the alarm and allow early interventions by government and professionals,” a bureau spokesman said.
But representatives from the relevant sectors are concerned about the challenges of complying with the law and the legal risks that could arise from simply doing their job. They called on authorities to ensure training and proper guidance are provided to them.
The proposal aims to hold accountable 23 types of professionals in social welfare, education and healthcare sectors who have direct contact with minors if they turn a blind eye to suspected child abuse and fail to alert authorities. If convicted, they can be jailed for three months and fined HK$50,000, as well as lose their professional licence.
The framework would apply to social and childcare workers, their supervisors, heads of children’s care homes, teachers and wardens of boarding schools. The rule would also apply to 18 kinds of healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses, dentists, physiotherapists, pharmacists and medical lab technologists.
They will be required to report a case as soon as possible if they have reasonable grounds to suspect a child has been suffering serious harm or is at risk.
A bureau spokesman said the list was drawn up based on the consideration that some professional knowledge would be needed to determine whether a child had been abused. A guide with examples will be issued to relevant sectors and training provided during the 18 months before the law comes into effect. During that period, professional bodies will also amend their code of practice to bring it in line with the new reporting regime.
A three-tier system classifying risks to the child as red, amber or green will be included in the guideline. But flagging suspected abuse will only be mandatory for cases that fall into the most serious category, as authorities want to guard against over-reporting that risks sapping resources that should be focused on the most imminent threats.
“We will not set a time frame on how soon the case should be reported, because each case has a different level of severity and nature of risk … and the professional may need some time to unpack what happened,” the spokesman said. “But if the harm is imminent and there is a strong ground, the report should be filed immediately.”
But they will be allowed to wait if they believe a delay in reporting will better protect the child. So in the case of a child being sexually abused by a relative and reluctant to have the case reported, a social worker could provide emotional support and arrange temporary residence for the child before making the report.
“Even if the child does not want the case to be reported, it will not be a reasonable defence,” he said. “The professionals should make efforts to ease the concerns of the child, instead of not reporting the matter.”
They can choose to not make the report if they have ensured another person covered by the framework has already done so.
The form to report child abuse, which is still being drafted, will include a section for listing the names of those people.
The identity of the person alerting authorities will be kept confidential. They will also be entitled to immunity from civil or criminal proceedings and other professional conduct consequences should their reports be made in good faith.
Authorities expect the number of child abuse cases to surge following the enactment of the law, and intend to step up a recruitment drive for foster care services, as well as increase the capacity of emergency placement facilities. A new child care centre providing 48 places is being planned for the first quarter of next year.
But social welfare sector legislator Tik Chi-yuen said the law was too vague and could expose social workers to unnecessary legal trouble.
“While social workers are professionally trained, here we are talking about meeting the legal standards. An experienced social worker may think it is reasonable to take three weeks to understand a suspected case, but the prosecutors may regard it as an intentional delay by the social worker if the case goes to the court.
“We hope the government can issue more guidelines on the behaviour that can be regarded as abusing a child. And there should also be sufficient training for staff,” he said.
Tik feared people would “play it safe” and thus over-report. “That would cause a sudden surge in the number of suspected cases. Inaccurate reporting could also harm the family and the child.”
Mary Tong Siu-fun, president of the Hong Kong Kindergarten Association, said she hoped the government would provide more training for teachers. She said it was sometimes hard to tell if a young child had been abused or not because he or she could not express themselves clearly.
“For example, if a child hurts himself while playing at home, it may take some time for a teacher to find out if the child has been beaten or not,” she said.
Paediatrician Dr Tse Hunghing said it was unfair to target professionals in the three fields specified, and it might be redundant to include doctors.
“If a child with a few bruises comes to see a doctor, how can the doctor determine if the child has been abused?” Tse said. “We need a clear definition. Medically, a doctor can diagnose a non-accidental injury and usually in such cases the doctor will report it to the police directly.”
If the harm is imminent and there is a strong ground, the report should be filed immediately
LABOUR AND WELFARE BUREAU