Hong Kong child abuse case prompts calls to watch for signs of psychological harm
Welfare experts urge vigilance over subtle changes in children’s behaviour as video of girl carrying beer highlights difficulty of detecting hidden abuse
Psychological abuse can be hard to detect, Hong Kong welfare experts have warned, urging social workers and teachers to look for subtle changes in children’s behaviour amid outrage over a viral video showing a girl carrying heavy bags of beer as her stepfather called her “useless”.
Welfare groups said on Thursday that emotional and verbal abuse were among the most common yet least recognised forms of child abuse. Signs often emerged through changes such as social withdrawal and anxiety, they said, but the harm could be as serious as physical injury.
They urged professionals working with children to consult the Social Welfare Department even when suspected cases fell short of the serious harm threshold for mandatory reporting.
Their calls came after police on Wednesday arrested a man and a woman on suspicion of ill-treatment of a child. The previous evening, their 10-year-old daughter had been filmed carrying two heavy bags of beer at Fu Tai Estate in Tuen Mun, with her backpack torn and gaping open.
