KUCHING: The federal Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development is looking to establish a department under the ministry to prioritise care of mistreated children.
Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said this was one of the main focuses of her ministry’s budget in empowering childcare for children involved in child abuse cases, currently under its care.
“It also includes upskilling training for guardians, supervisors or moral officers. We want to increase their grades so that they have the necessary skills and knowledge to deal with cases like this,” she told reporters here on Tuesday (Jan 31).
Nancy noted that currently, there is only one division under the Social Welfare Department (SWD) that looks after neglected children.
“However, this is one of many branches under the SWD so it does not specialise in childcare,” she explained.
Following her recent visits to children’s shelters, she pointed out that there was a need to provide training for specific skill sets for guardians of the shelters on top of their general knowledge in providing childcare.
“At this time, the caretakers are also affected. They are not only supervisors, but they also serve as moral officers, adding more responsibilities on their plates.
“I noticed that it is fair for us to do something good for them, that we should have more focus on people who have knowledge related to childcare and also give them training in the childcare sector.”
Apart from that, Nancy revealed that her ministry was also planning to develop a centralised system of databases related to the SWD.
“So we also request a special allocation to create a centralised system. The centralised system is not just about abuse cases, but it’s about the overall information with regard to the SWD,” she explained.
