The Taipei City Government has been accused of taking eight months to place a young female victim in protective care in a child sexual abuse case — bad news for the child and for the entire child protection system.

• DPP city councillor Hsu Shu-hua released an audio recording alleging that a 10-year-old girl had been sexually abused since the age of eight by men who paid her mother for sex, and that the mother knew about it and took money for it.
• More than 240 days have passed since the case was reported to police late last year. The girl repeatedly said she wanted to be placed in care but received no response, and in August this year she began self-harming.
• The Department of Social Welfare responded that, applying the Ministry of Health and Welfare's standardised assessment criteria, the case did not meet the threshold for court-ordered placement, that no further abuse occurred while the safety plan was in effect, and that in the full recording the girl had said she did not want to enter an institution.
• The same family first entered the social welfare system 15 years ago when the eldest daughter was sexually assaulted; now the second and youngest daughters have in turn faced the risk of sexual offences.
• The city government says agencies across departments have provided 714 instances of service, but these include 240 phone calls and 278 Line messages, casting doubt on how much actual protection was delivered.

Outlook: Under public pressure, the city government has now formally initiated court-ordered protective placement proceedings. Attention will shift to changing custody arrangements and to a review of the social work assessment system as a whole.