Many children are abused by their own family members.
1.5 pregnant women go to hospital every day
According to statistics from the above hospital, of the nearly 43,600 births and abortions at the hospital in 2023, there were 528 cases of minors. That means every day, 1.5 pregnant minors come to this hospital to give birth or have an abortion.
However, only 10% of children have received help from the one-stop shop model for women and children known as Dandelion, which has been piloted for a year. The reason is largely because their families and relatives avoid them.
Ms. Tran Thi Kim Thanh - Head of the Department of Child Protection, Care and Gender Equality (Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Ho Chi Minh City) - said that in the first year of piloting the Dandelion model, the program reached and supported 51 cases.
Of these, 13 were only in primary school, 14 were in secondary school. And 14 said they had fun, drank alcohol and had sex with more than one person.
Hung Vuong Hospital (128 Hong Bang, District 5) is the place to receive input, examine and provide emergency treatment, and coordinate with investigation agencies and the Forensic Center to assess and establish records to investigate and handle the case.
The output is the Social Work - Vocational Education Center for Youth of the City (Go Vap District). This is a temporary shelter, helping victims have a safe place to live, take care of food, and support childbirth.
On average, the cost of supporting a victim is about 15.2 million VND from the Ho Chi Minh City budget.
The abuser is a relative.
"Creating profiles for children who are victims of abuse and violence, I get goosebumps every time I write. Many of them are only 10-11 years old, still at the age of playing, but they are abused and become pregnant.
In most cases, the victims consented to the abuser. The abusers were relatives, a very pitiful situation," said Ms. Tran Thi Kim Thanh.
There are even cases where parents introduce boyfriends to their 15-year-old daughters and let the boyfriends live with them. Another case is a delivery man, who gradually gets used to it and then sexually abuses them with their children's consent.
Many other heartbreaking stories were shared on the show, both heartbreaking and infuriating because what's even more frightening is that most child abuse cases are committed by family members.
There was a girl under 12 years old who was abused by her uncle. However, the girl's grandmother said that the family would resolve the matter themselves without legal intervention because "he is her uncle, also a family member".
Not to mention there is a mother who even took her two daughters who were just over 10 years old to sell sex.
Mr. Le Van Thinh, Director of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Ho Chi Minh City, said that this model focuses on prevention, containment and intervention for people who cannot protect themselves. Therefore, victim support services are operated in a closed manner from input to provision of temporary shelter services to ensure the confidentiality of information of victims and their families.
According to Mr. Thinh, after one year of piloting the model, gaps in service provision for victims have been identified. That is, the team does not have in-depth knowledge of gender-based violence and mental health counseling for patients. Then there is the issue of unprofessional case management, and there are no specific guidelines for setting spending levels for each activity...
"This is just the beginning. The units operating the model will continue to consider and propose expanding this model to other hospitals as well as other districts so that the project can expand its coverage and protect women and children who are victims of violence and abuse," said Mr. Thinh.
Child abuse and neglect sometimes even within the family.Source
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