Abused children returned to families

An official at the Ministry of Social Affairs has revealed to Arab News that a large number of children who are victims of violence and physical abuse have been sent back to their abusive parents after the ministry studied their cases.
The source said that sending the abused children back to their families was not in their best interest.
Abdullah Al-Taoi, director of Social Affairs in Makkah, also confirmed the children's return during a telephone conversation with Arab News. He explained that after the victims are thoroughly examined by a team of social specialists, the children are usually returned to their families. He added that in the case of separated parents, the ministry searches for an alternative family for the child, such as paternal or maternal relatives who can be trusted to take care of the child.
Regarding the impact of returning a child to an abusive family and the possibility of the child being subjected to violence again, he said: “Our role is not confined to finding alternative families for the abused children but to maintaining a communication channel with the victims to ensure their condition is stable.” He said this approach has helped mitigate the problems associated with these cases, especially since the purpose of the ministry’s intervention is to eliminate, within the family setting, the sources of harm to the child.
He added that in every Protection Committee unit in hospitals, there is a member from the Ministry of Social Affairs who studies the social and medical condition of the abuser and then refers the person to the authorities for a trial.
An expert at the Ministry of Social Affairs justified sending victims of abuse back to their families, saying: “Care homes no longer have the capacity to accommodate more child abuse cases. Furthermore, many members of the community do not know how to reach or communicate with the Ministry of Social Affairs.” He pointed out that this is one of the reasons why many domestic violence cases do not come out in the open and are still considered taboo.
However, according to Al-Taoi, the Ministry of Social Affairs is reaching out to the community in order to inform individuals of the services available to them. These courses, he stressed, are designed to raise and enhance community awareness about the ministry’s obligations.
“We have introduced training courses and visits to schools and colleges to educate the youth about our role and how to contact us for support, either by contacting us on our toll free telephone line or by communicating with the protection committees in hospitals, or even through police stations,” he said.
In a related incident, the domestic violence team in the health affairs department in Jeddah recently transferred two children to the Social Affairs Ministry after they received first aid for burns and other injuries in a hospital.
Sami Badawood, director of health affairs, declared that after assessing the injuries sustained by one of the children, which indicated signs of torture inflicted on his body, the child’s siblings were summoned to ascertain whether they were also subject to violence. The doctors confirmed that one of the siblings was domestically abused and was consequently admitted to the hospital for treatment.
Officials are currently investigating the case.
Al-Tao said a committee has been formed to discuss and address the issue of the two abused children and the children’s guardians will be investigated.