Child abuse cases rise sharply after 2020's decade-high

There was a sharp spike in the number of child abuse cases investigated by the authorities last year.

This follows the rise in 2020, which had the highest number of cases in a decade, according to data from the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF).

The MSF's Child Protective Service (CPS) investigated 2,141 cases of abuse last year, 63 per cent more than the 1,313 cases in 2020.

Neglect cases numbering 910 made up the bulk of the investigations last year and saw the sharpest rise from 2020, more than doubling from 375 cases that year. Cases of neglect include those where children were poorly supervised or experienced emotional abuse or medical neglect.

Mr Desmurn Lim, director of charity Montfort Care's Big Love programme, had told The Straits Times previously that some neglected and underfed children injured themselves when they tried to do chores, or cooked for themselves.

Child sexual abuse cases also jumped 70 per cent from 261 cases investigated in 2020 to 443 cases last year - an 11-year high.

Physical abuse cases rose by 16 per cent, from 677 cases investigated in 2020 to 788 cases last year.

MSF said more cases were investigated because there were more referrals from CPS' community partners such as family service centres, schools and child protection specialist centres.

CPS deals with more serious cases, such as parents who fail to provide adequate food, clothing or medical care for their children, or deliberately inflict serious injuries on them.

The number of inquiries received by CPS also increased by 25 per cent from the year before, though these calls include those that may not involve cases of actual violence. This increase was mainly due to more outreach efforts and public awareness of family violence, MSF said.

More people are calling the National Anti-Violence Helpline on 1800-777-0000 - a 24-hour helpline for people to report family violence, as well as cases of abuse and neglect.

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FAMILY VIOLENCE HELPLINES

Big Love Child Protection Specialist Centre 6445-0400
Heart @ Fei Yue Child Protection Specialist Centre 6819-9170
Pave Integrated Services for Individual and Family Protection Specialist Centre 6555-0390
Project StART 6476-1482
Trans Safe Centre 6449-9088
National Anti-Violence Helpline 1800-777-0000