Pre-school's report on Megan Khung gave no reason to suspect abuse: MSF

Severity of the child's injuries was not fully described to ECDA, says ministry

- Syarafana Shafeeq and Theresa Tan

A series of lapses in the reporting of abuse and follow-up checks contributed to the death of four-year-old Megan Khung, who was physically and emotionally abused for more than a year.

During that period, she was forced to wear soiled diapers over her head, eat food from the dustbin and eat her mother's mucus. She died in 2020 after a fatal punch to the stomach, and her mother and her then boyfriend burned her body to hide their crime.

Teachers at the young girl's preschool, Healthy Start Child Development Centre (HSCDC), had observed visible injuries on her in March 2019.

The centre, which is run by social service agency Beyond Social Services, submitted a report to the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) in early April 2019.

The ECDA is the regulatory authority for pre-schools here.

"However, the report did not fully describe the severity of the injuries, as compared to the evidence presented in the court documents when Megan's mother and her partner were being charged," the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) told The Straits Times on April 8.

"This resulted in inadequate interventions by the relevant agencies," it said.

Megan's mother, Foo Li Ping, 29, was sentenced to 19 years' jail on April 3. Foo's then boyfriend, Wong Shi Xiang, 38, was sentenced to 30 years' jail and 17 strokes of the cane.

MSF said Beyond did not escalate the case to the ministry's Child Protective Service (CPS), which manages high-risk child abuse cases and has the powers to remove a child from their family to keep the child safe.

In response to queries from The Straits Times, MSF said the report indicated that Beyond had established a care plan for Megan, and that her mother agreed to have Megan move in with her grandmother.

The report concluded that Megan appeared happy, had no further injuries and had been attending pre-school daily.