Measures on child safety at home: HK Gov’t

By

A question was raised by Hon. Leung Man-kwong at the Legislative Council on March 22 regarding the safety of children at home. Last February 2023, two incidents occurred where young children fell due to heights. One was a girl who died and the other was a Filipino boy who was injured.

The 3-year-old boy was sent to the hospital and suffered a facial injury. His mother had left their home to bring the eldest child to school when the incident happened. The mother was arrested on suspicion of abuse or neglect of a child or juvenile in her custody.

In response to Hon. Leung’s query, Chris Sun, Secretary for Labour and Welfare, wrote a letter.

In it, he followed up with information from the Social Welfare Department (SWD). Between 2020 and 2022, there were 201, 275, and 276 neglected cases. However, the SWD did not provide a breakdown of incidents that involve children’s safety at home.

Moreover, the Child Fatality Review Panel, which was set up by SWD, made recommendations related to child home safety. This includes the use of window frames with movable padlocks and that children should not be left unattended when playing on rooftops.

According to the Department of Health (DH) in the Unintentional Injury Survey published in 2018, a study was conducted on domestic safety practices of which was adopted by households like the installation of window locked frames and locking window frames if they can be opened.

Hong Kong Labor Dept

The report also made recommendations to the public to always stay alert when modifying home environments and settings to reduce the risks of domestic injury.

Furthermore, the SWD launched a series of territory-wide and district-based publicity programs on child protection and produced videos to remind about children being mistreated. The SWD also adopted the taglines, “Don’t leave children unattended,” and “Take proper care of children” to raise the parents/ guardians related to the consequences of child neglect.

Please Read the story:

25-year old Filipino mother under probe for neglect of child