Concerns about child abuse from domestic workers
(Baonghean) - Recently, many cases of child abuse have occurred from domestic helpers hired by the families themselves. The consequences not only cause health damage but also affect the psychology and physiology of children. The question is how to prevent this situation?
Sad stories
On December 16, Vinh City Police (Nghe An) prosecuted and temporarily detained Nguyen Thi Doan (born 1972), residing in Do Luong district, for the crime of "Torturing others". Previously, a clip was extracted from a camera recording the scene of Ms. Doan - a maid holding a 1-year-old baby upside down like an object, causing public outrage.
| Camera recorded the scene of the maid abusing Mr. Hoang Anh T's baby. Documentary clip |
Specifically, at around 7:30 p.m. on December 4, Mr. Hoang Anh T (born in 1992), residing in Vinh City, and his wife went out to dinner with some friends, while their 1-year-old child was looked after by Mrs. Nguyen Thi Doan at home. After about an hour, the couple returned and found their child crying. At this time, the maid said that the child was tired due to the change in weather.
However, on the morning of December 5, when Mr. T. went to work, his wife turned on the camera to check again. At this time, she was shocked to discover that the nanny had behaved extremely violently towards her child. According to the camera, seeing that the child would not sleep, the nanny held the child's legs upside down, then threw him back onto the bed. Because of the pain, the child burst into tears, however, this woman did not stop but took more violent actions.
Mr. T. questioned her but the maid still refused. Only when she was shown the camera footage did the nanny admit her mistake and apologize to the family. It is known that the family had just hired Ms. Doan on November 6, through a job agency in Vinh City for 4.5 million VND/month. After the incident, Mr. T. fired her and reported it to the police.
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| The maid held the 1-year-old baby's legs, turned him upside down, and shook him vigorously. Photo cut from the camera of Mr. Hoang Anh T.'s house. Documentary photo |
A similar incident also occurred in Vinh City at the end of October 2017 at the family of Mr. Dinh Van T (born in 1994), residing in Ben Thuy Ward. Mr. T said that on October 5, 2017, his family hired Ms. Dinh Thi L. (born in 1961), residing in Hung Phuc Commune, Hung Nguyen District (Nghe An) as a "nanny" for 4 million VND/month.
Ms. L.'s job was to take care of his 5-month-old son. "However, after hiring Ms. L., my husband and I discovered that our son had unusual symptoms such as crying a lot, being a picky eater, vomiting a lot... but we still had no idea that our son was being beaten like that," Mr. T. said.
On October 24, 2017, while Mr. T. was having breakfast, he turned on the camera in his house to watch and saw that there were periods of time that were not recorded. Suspecting that something had happened, Mr. T. asked a friend to check the camera again. In the afternoon of the same day, after restoring the data, Mr. T. opened it to watch.
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| Grandson D.AN, son of Dinh Van T. Photo courtesy of NH |
At this time, he discovered images on October 11, the camera recorded the "nanny" hitting her child on the head. "I was really shocked, my limbs trembled when I saw the images recorded by the camera. I did not expect that Ms. L. could be so cruel to hit her child like that."
According to the recording, at that time, Mrs. L. was putting her baby to sleep on a hammock, but then the baby woke up so she patted him. However, because the baby refused to go back to sleep, Mrs. L. used a pillow to cover the baby's face. What is worth mentioning is that Mrs. L. also used her hands to hit the baby's head and body many times. Then, she picked the baby up roughly, jerking and shaking him to make him sleep.
Immediately after that, Mr. T. returned home and played the clip again for everyone to see, and asked Mrs. L. to explain the incident. Despite the clear images, Mrs. L. still refused to admit to beating her child. Only when Mr. T. threatened to report to the police did Mrs. L. ask for forgiveness from her family.
| The camera shows Ms. L. hitting the baby's face and head with a pillow. Photo courtesy of Ms. L. |
The next day, the family took the child to Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital for examination. Here, the doctors determined that the child's hormones were normal, but the fontanel was bulging. Although there were no obvious signs, it was suspected that the child had a bulging brain. Because the incident was so serious, after discussion, the family decided to stop hiring Ms. L. and at the same time reported to Ben Thuy Ward Police, and the unit transferred the entire case file to Vinh City Police.
These are just two of the child abuse cases involving domestic workers that have been discovered, considered the tip of the iceberg. In reality, it is difficult to count how many similar cases there are.
What is the solution?
According to Vinh City Police, the cases with sufficient grounds mentioned above were all investigated and strictly handled. For example, immediately after receiving a complaint from Mr. Hoang Anh T's family, on the morning of December 6, 2019, Vinh City Police went to the house to extract the camera to investigate according to the content of the complaint. Ms. Doan was then prosecuted and temporarily detained for the act of "Torturing others". During the investigation, the defendant Doan admitted to the crime, expressed remorse and regret for his actions against the victim.
However, reality shows that, despite being handled appropriately, sadly, child abuse cases by domestic workers still cannot be completely stopped, causing anxiety and confusion for families as well as outrage in public opinion.
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| The baby of Mr. Hoang Anh T. Photo courtesy of Tan Ky |
A doctor at the Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital said: Physical injuries can be cured, but psychological injuries can follow the child throughout his life. Accordingly, the child will be extremely scared, and especially children with weak nerves can suffer from depression, psychological trauma... This makes the child's relationship with the people around him more difficult. Not to mention, later when seeing the beating scene, that unconscious part will "revive", the child will panic when remembering the previous torture scene, this is very dangerous.
To reduce child abuse from nannies, first of all, mothers need to pay more attention to their children. Accordingly, when hiring a babysitter, parents should go to the area where the person lives to find out, in addition to whether the person is healthy or has an infectious disease, the most important thing is whether the person is patient, knows how to play with children, loves children...
Ms. Nguyet believes that if a maid has a tendency to be violent and hot-tempered, it will be revealed immediately with just a few small actions, because it is instinct. In addition, talking, listening, and observing children every day will help parents discover whether their children like or fear the maid, because children's instinct to recognize love is very strong. This is knowledge that parents should know and take advantage of when looking for a maid to take care of their children.
Ms. VTN, an employee of a company providing services for housekeepers and babysitters in Vinh City, said that in reality, the demand for housekeepers, including babysitting, is very high, especially in big cities. The requirements for housekeepers today are not only cleaning the house, cooking, and doing laundry, but also require many skills, including babysitting.
The social demand is great, but in reality, domestic work is not considered a profession, so it does not require training or qualifications. Instead, it is just a part-time job for idle people, the elderly, and people with disabilities, mainly in the countryside. Therefore, it is difficult to demand much from them.
Thus, it can be seen that in order to prevent children from being abused in their own families by domestic workers and babysitters, strictly handling those who commit acts of violence cannot solve the problem at its root. More importantly, we must propagate, educate, and change the awareness of each individual, each family, and the community.
In particular, parents should spend more time taking care of their children, and should not leave it all to the housekeeper. In the long term, the housekeeper profession, especially the one related to babysitting, should be identified as a profession, so there should be a training facility, a certificate, and a management organization, and it cannot be left to companies and job placement centers as it is now.
The provisions of Article 140 on the crime of torturing others under the 2015 Penal Code are as follows:
1. Anyone who cruelly treats or humiliates a person dependent on him/her, except in the cases specified in Article 185 of this Code, shall be subject to non-custodial reform for up to 3 years or imprisonment from 3 months to 2 years.
2. Committing a crime in one of the following cases shall be punishable by imprisonment from 1 to 3 years:
a) For people under 16 years old, women known to be pregnant, the elderly, sick or other people unable to defend themselves;
b) Causing mental and behavioral disorders of the victim of 11% or more;
c) For 2 or more people.
