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SINGAPORE \u2013 The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) has apologised to the agency running Megan Khung\u2019s pre-school for the misunderstanding over \u201cfinger-pointing\u201d in its initial response in April to the girl\u2019s case. <\/p>\n
Minister-in-charge of Social Services Integration Desmond Lee said this on Nov 5 in response to a question by Mr Cai Yinzhou (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC) concerning the case of four-year-old Megan. <\/p>\n
Mr Cai said earlier reports of MSF\u2019s statement in April seemed to pin blame on Beyond Social Services (BSS), the agency that runs Megan\u2019s pre-school.<\/p>\n
Replying, Mr Lee said there is a balance between setting out the facts of what happened and keeping the social service sector cohesive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe aim is to reflect on what happened and see how those gaps should be closed. And so there was not and should not be an intention to point fingers,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cAt the same time, the public expects some accountability and the laying out of the facts. That is what happened with the report of the independent panel, and we\u2019ve read the report and seen what happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd so, to the extent that there was a misunderstanding that there was finger-pointing, we have apologised to the relevant agencies, including Beyond Social Services, for the misunderstanding that had occurred. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was not the intention, but if that was perceived, we have apologised as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
MSF said in April that the BSS report did not fully describe the severity of Megan\u2019s injuries and gave no reason for the Early Childhood Development Agency to suspect that she was being abused. The ministry also said BSS did not escalate the case to the Child Protective Service (CPS). <\/p>\n
An independent review panel later found that BSS had called CPS, but the CPS officer did not register the call in its logs.<\/p>\n
Megan died in February 2020 after months of physical and emotional abuse by her mother and her\u00a0mother\u2019s boyfriend. <\/p>\n
The review panel released its findings on the case on Oct 23, and <\/p>\n detailed several lapses at various agencies<\/p>\n <\/a>, including CPS and the police.<\/p>\n On Nov 5, Mr Lee responded in Parliament to more than 20 questions filed by MPs on Megan\u2019s case following the review findings. He also announced several measures to strengthen safeguards in the child protection system, including setting up a new social services coordination centre to better identify child abuse cases.<\/p>\n