Parliament: Abuse of children, the elderly on the rise: Faishal Ibrahim

The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) investigated about 600 child abuse cases on average each year over the past five years.

The ministry also investigated an average of 78 cases of abuse each year, involving people over the age of 65, since the Adult Protective Service was set up in 2015.

These numbers have been on an upward trend, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Social and Family Development Faishal Ibrahim said in Parliament yesterday.

The spike in numbers can be attributed to efforts to raise awareness about these issues, he added.

Responding to questions from Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar (Ang Mo Kio GRC), Dr Faishal said the majority of both child and elder abuse cases involve physical abuse or neglect.

Nearly 90 per cent of perpetrators in child abuse cases were parents or step-parents.

For elder abuse, 80 per cent of perpetrators were the victims' family members, including children and spouses.

On raising awareness, Dr Faishal said videos from the MSF campaign Break The Silence have notched up 14.2 million views.

Stakeholders like educators and social workers are also being trained to better respond to and engage potential victims.

He said: "MSF will continue to work closely with families and community partners to keep individuals safe."

Dr Faishal added that the Vulnerable Adults Act, which came into effect last December, is another mechanism to protect vulnerable adults when families and community partners are unable to do so.