Hong Kong’s ‘outdated’ child protection system blamed for death of drug abusers’ five-year-old son
‘There is no information about these children, there is no one in charge,’ lawmaker tells Legco panel meeting looking for solutions after boy’s tragic death
Five-year-old Yeung Chi-wai lived a painful existence before his life was cut short when he ingested seven times the lethal amount of methamphetamine.
Other children could suffer the same fate, lawmakers were told on Saturday, unless the city’s child protection system was overhauled and new laws passed.
Old and new bruises and marks on the little boy’s face, arms and legs pointed to long-time neglect before he died in 2013, while the coroner’s court concluded in March that his death was “unfortunate” before classifying it as “misadventure”.
Chi-wai had Down’s syndrome. His mother and her boyfriend were drug abusers who favoured meth.
“The problem is no one has been held responsible or accountable ... not his parents, not the social worker, not the government, no one,” said children’s rights advocate and school administrator Angela Lee Nga-kam, who was among the NGOs, social workers, paediatricians and lawyers who spoke at the Legislative Council panel meeting.
Lee said that when she explained the boy’s case to her two children, aged 13 and 15, they wanted to know why no one had helped him, why the social workers in charge were not fired or investigated, and why no one had been taken to court.
