SINGAPORE – The number of cases investigated by the authorities for serious child abuse or neglect concerns “remained high” in 2022, after doubling from slightly more than 1,000 cases in 2019 to about 2,000 cases in 2021, during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The figure for 2022 is comparable with that in 2021, when 2,141 cases were probed, said Ms Yogeswari Munisamy, a senior principal social worker at the Ministry of Social and Family Development’s (MSF) Child Protective Service (CPS).

The jump in the number of cases was due to a combination of factors, she said in an interview with The Sunday Times. These include more public awareness about family violence and the launch of the National Anti-Violence and Sexual Harassment Helpline in 2021, which also made it easier for the public to report abuse.

Stresses related to the pandemic, such as job loss or having to juggle multiple roles such as parenting or caregiving while working from home, have exacerbated tensions at home, said social workers.

Such pressures could have led to more cases, said Mr Mohamed Fareez Mohamed Fahmy, divisional director of AMKFSC Community Services.

Ms Yogeswari also noted that the Children and Young Persons Act amendment came into effect in July 2020, so those who are 16 and older but under 18 will now be part of the statistics on child abuse.

Previously, the Act, which protects young offenders and vulnerable children, only covered those younger than 16.

Commenting on the increase in cases, Care Corner Family Service Centre’s assistant manager, Ms Rachel Yee, said workers in the helping profession are also being trained to be more alert and attentive to abuse or neglect.

“It is crucial to note that while an increase in child abuse investigations can be a positive sign of a more vigilant and responsive society, it may also indicate that child abuse remains a significant concern,” Ms Yee said. 

In a parliamentary reply on Oct 3, Social and Family Development Minister Masagos Zulkifli said there was no spike in the number of children being abused to death by their loved ones.

He added that since November 2020, MSF has “further strengthened” protocols on information-sharing and coordination with various agencies to look out for vulnerable children who are under the state’s care to ensure their well-being.

He was responding to a question by Radin Mas MP Melvin Yong about the safeguards to protect children who have returned home from foster care.

Mr Yong’s question came after a man was sentenced in September to 21½ years’ jail and 18 strokes of the cane for causing the death of his two-year-old daughter, Umaisyah.

To hide his crime, he and his wife burned Umaisyah’s body in a metal pot and hid it in a box under the stove at home.

Umaisyah was in foster care for about two years. Her father abused her after she returned home, until she died in 2014. The couple spun various lies to hide her death, including to an Education Ministry officer who contacted them to find out why she was not registered for Primary 1.

The crime was uncovered only five years later, when Umaisyah’s uncle found the pot and showed it to his friends, who reported the discovery to the police.

Besides Umaisyah, at least three other cases where a child died after being abused by a parent or parent’s partner were heard in court in 2023.

Mr Masagos said that the incidents heard recently in court had occurred in different years and do not represent a spike in child death cases due to abuse.

When asked about Umaisyah’s case, Ms Yogeswari said she could not provide more information as court proceedings against the girl’s mother are still ongoing.

However, she spoke about the challenges of working with families to ensure the safety of a child who had been abused by his parents after he returned home from alternative care, such as a children’s home or foster care.

She said it is “very hard” for social workers to see the child if parents intentionally block them from doing so and fabricate stories. The CPS would have done its due diligence and its best to put in place plans to keep the child safe before letting him go home. But there is no “100 per cent guarantee” that the abuse will not happen again.

She added: “There are times when parents suddenly decide not to cooperate and this creates a lot of complexities for child protection.”

Ms Yogeswari stressed that the child protection system has since been beefed up after “learning from all the cases”, and the incidence rate of child abuse remains low among children here.

For every 1,000 children, fewer than three were investigated for abuse or neglect concerns, she said.

This is compared with 21 per 1,000 children in Australia. In the United States, it was 8.1 per 1,000 children for those who experienced some form of maltreatment in 2021.

“We acknowledge that while the cases investigated have risen, the incidence rate remains low compared with other countries. It is not dire,” she said. “While any abuse is one case too many, the issue is not so alarming.”