Foundation to pause adoptions after boy's death in foster care

Taipei, March 13 (CNA) The Ministry of Health and Welfare on Wednesday said it had ordered a child welfare foundation to temporarily stop accepting new adoption cases after a 1-year-old boy it placed in foster care died after allegedly being abused by his caregiver.

In addition to halting new adoptions, the existing adoption cases being handled by the organization, the Child Welfare League Foundation (CWLF), will also be subject to increased supervision by local governments, the ministry said.

Speaking at a press conference, Deputy Health Minister Lee Li-feng (李麗芬) said her ministry was planning to meet Friday with a group of experts, the Taipei and New Taipei city governments, and the CWLF, which will submit a review report on the incident.

A decision will be made at a later date whether or not to allow the group to resume taking new adoption cases, Lee said.

Including the CWLF, there are currently eight organizations in Taiwan involved in facilitating adoptions. Nationwide, 468 children are awaiting adoption, including around 200 aged three and under, Lee said.

The ministry's order came after news broke this week of a 1-year-old boy who died in December after allegedly being abused over a four-month period by a licensed Taipei nanny, who was serving as his foster caregiver while the CWLF tried to find an adoptive family for him.

The nanny, surnamed Liu (劉), and her younger sister have both been detained on suspicion of child abuse and causing injuries leading to death, but have yet to be charged.

In a new development on Tuesday, Taipei prosecutors also searched the CWLF's offices and questioned the social worker who handled the boy's case, amid suspicion she may have falsified his case reports.

Following her interrogation, the 29-year-old social worker, surnamed Chen (陳), was released Wednesday on NT$300,000 (US$9,535) bail.