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The following is issued on behalf of the Review Panel of the Pilot Project on Child Fatality Review:
The Review Panel of the Pilot Project on Child Fatality Review today (January 12) published its first report for the prevention of child death, summarising an analysis of child death cases that occurred in 2006, its 47 recommendations as well as the responses given and improvement measures implemented by various government departments.
The Chairman of the Review Panel, Dr Leung Nai-kong, said, "Through examination of child death cases, we would like to identify the good practice, gaps and deficiency in related service systems, to suggest improvements in the direction of formulating preventive strategies, and to promote inter-disciplinary and inter-agency co-operation to prevent child death.
"The review of the loss of children is always sad and painful but we hope that the move can help families, the Government, non-governmental organisations and the community at large prevent similar incidents in the future."
The review covered the deaths of 107 children, aged below 18, reported to the Coroner's Court, who died in 2006 of both natural (61) and non-natural (46) causes.
Most of the children who died of non-natural causes were killed in accidents (20), followed by suicides (14).
The majority of the accidents were traffic incidents (11). But it was noteworthy that five children died of an accidental fall from a height. Four of them happened at home, with three of the deceased children left unattended. The Review Panel made four recommendations on the prevention of such accidents, including education for parents to seek assistance from reliable child-minders and to give clear instructions to child-minders to ensure child safety.
In suicide cases, the 14 children were all in their teens and 13 of them jumped from a height to their death. A total of 11 recommendations were made in the report directed towards prevention of youth suicide, including educating the public to encourage people with suicidal intent, their friends and relatives to seek help from professionals instead of covering up such intent in front of helping parties.
Dr Leung expressed hearty thanks to frontline workers, professionals and managerial personnel of organisations, bodies and government departments that facilitated the conduct of the review.
During the course of the review, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) and other government departments/organisations concerned have given responses and sought to improve the services concerned.
For the prevention of child fatalities due to an accidental fall while being left unattended, the SWD has implemented more flexible child care services. In 2008-09, the three-year pilot Neighbourhood Support Child Care Project was launched to provide flexible child care services to needy families in addition to child care services provided by child care centres.
The Department has also allotted resources for publicising anti-suicidal messages, promoting positive life values and encouraging persons with suicidal intent to seek professional help. Since 2007, the theme of suicide prevention has been widely publicised through different means, such as television announcements in the public interest. The Department has also joined with the Education Bureau and five universities to support non-governmental organisations rendering school social work service to implement the "Positive Adolescent Training through Holistic Social Programmes to Adulthood: A Jockey Club Youth Enhancement Scheme" with a view to promoting students' positive values and enhancing their resilience and ability to cope with adversities and life stresses. Additional resources have also been provided to the Suicide Crisis Intervention Centre of the Samaritan Befrienders of Hong Kong to provide services for suicide survivors and search for suicide messages by bloggers since November 2009.
The responses from different parties to the Review Panel's recommendations have been included in the report which has been uploaded onto the SWD homepage at www.swd.gov.hk/en/index/site_whatsnew/ .
The Review Panel, an independent body appointed by the Director of Social Welfare, was tasked to carry out the pilot project launched on February 15, 2008. Its 14 members and four co-opted members are from various fields, including medical, social welfare, psychological, legal, education, business, academia and parents.
Upon completion of the review on child death cases in 2006, the Review Panel has embarked on the review of child death cases in 2007 and will issue its final report in late 2010.
Ends/Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Issued at HKT 11:57
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