To report, or, NOT to report…it’s, a, toss-up here! Off of the Front Page Sections, translated…
Should we, call it in, when we hear children crying next door? Will we be, mistaken in what was happening next door? This is, a troubling matter for the neighbors. Huang, the sponsor of the medical protection program for children stated, “there are three signs of child abuse: children were heard crying a lot from the neighbors, but rarely seen the children being taken out of the houses”, “that child from next door looks so tiny, and is covered in dirt a lot, not making eye contact with others”, “not interacting well with the caretakers or the parents”, if any of these three signs were noted, notify the authorities as soon as possible, and you may have saved, a young child from being abused further.
The head of the Taiwan Funds for Children & Families of Hsinchu Chapter, Shen told, no matter if it’s a mansion, or there’s the soundproof walls installed, there would be signs that the neighbors may become aware of, but, when children cry, that doesn’t necessarily signaled abuse, a young children may cry when s/he is wet, or hungry too. He’d suggested, that the neighbors should make a note of the frequencies of the cries, the settings, if the child cries at a set time of day, and the pattern continued for long, then, there may be a problem. The neighbors can also make a note of the child’s spirits, to see if there are, external injuries on the child, to determine if the authorities should be, called.
A senior social worker from Taoyuan told, sometimes, the kittens sounded like babies crying too, and in the past, the office was called, and the caller mentioned of “hearing children cry”, but as the social workers visited door-to-door, all the neighbors didn’t have children in their homes, so the social workers left emptyhanded.
The head secretary of the Social Services of Taoyuan, Tsai told, if the neighbors noted that crying came from next door often, they can record the sounds using a cell phone, and try to observe, where the cries came from, the more concrete evidence which had been collected, the rescues will be more, fruitful.
The social worker, Chiao, from the domestic violence prevention help center in Taoyuan told, that in recent years, the reporters of incidents of child abuse had all, “evolved”, some would provide the recordings of sounds, or the video recordings to them, and as the offices contacted the caller, then, the video or sound files will then be requested to be uploaded to the database of the social services, and there, the social workers will then, evaluate, if concrete help needed to be given.
Shen suggested, that if the members of the community are uncertain if what they’re hearing was child abuse, they can tell what they observed to the super of their community or the man in charge of the local boroughs, or other, authority figures in the neighborhood, have the professionals from the “first line of defense” visit, would be, more effective in protecting the children, also, without the worries, of having the unpleasantries of the neighbors.
And so, sometimes, when children cry, it’s, nothing, and at other times, it is, something, so, how can we tell or know? We can’t, not for, absolutely, certain, but, making these calls to the local authorities show that you CARE enough, to take a note, so, we’d still rather be, nosy, than, aloof, and ignorant here!