Audit shows Taipei child protection system lapses

TRAINING, DELAYS: Despite boasting high training session attendance, the number of invalid reports submitted to the social welfare department have risen each year By Chen Cheng-yu and Esme Yeh / Staff reporters Add TT as Preferred Source Nearly 20 percent of reports to Taipei’s child protection system were deemed invalid, while as of the end of August last year, 303 cases involving alleged violations of the law had passed the legal deadlines for investigation and penalties, the National Audit Office said in a report.The reports, which are processed by the Taipei Social Welfare Department’s Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention Center, increased from 9,217 in 2023 to 12,259 last year, with more than 90 percent filed by “mandatory reporters” each year, it said.Mandatory reporters —