THE mother and seven-month-old baby were escorted by the police into the hospital.

It was a sad story of spousal abuse where an innocent baby was involved and injured as a result.

Ms Eng Peng Peng, 37, senior medical social worker at KK Women's and Children's Hospital, works with cases where children and babies are involved.

The parents had a quarrel. When the baby started crying, the husband got upset and hit the baby on the stomach.

Upset and angry, the wife took the baby and wanted to leave the house.

The husband tried to stop her by pulling her back and closing the door.

In the ensuing struggle between the couple, the baby's head was knocked against the door and he started crying again.

The husband then pushed the wife and caused her and the baby to fall.

All that commotion alarmed a neighbour who then called the police.

'When we met the mother, we found out that there had been a history of spousal violence before the birth of the baby over money and in-law involvement issues,' said Ms Eng.

The mother described the father as being uncommunicative about their problems.

Said Ms Eng: 'When she tries to talk about it, they would get into a verbal fight. She would then throw things at him and as it escalates, he would slap her, kick her and push her.'

Once, the husband took a rubber pipe in the bathroom to hit the wife. There was also a time when he punched her in the eye .

There would also be sexual abuse where she was forced to have sex with him when she did not want to.

'She felt ashamed and embarrassed about the abuse. Her mother-in-law would tell her that she should not have aroused her husband's anger,' said Ms Eng.

When she tries to talk to her parents about it, they would tell her to be patient with her husband as she is now married and needed to stay in the marriage.

'She also felt financially dependent on him and (feared) that she would not be able to support herself and the baby if she divorced him,' said Ms Eng.

When advised about applying for a personal protection order (PPO) to stop the violence, she hesitated because it would mean 'blowing things up', and this would mean the end of the marriage.

'However, she realised that things were becoming more serious when the child's safety was affected. She did not feel safe going home,' said Ms Eng.

Help from all corners

Ms Eng helped her with crisis shelter and referred her baby to the Ministry of Community, Youth and Sports (MCYS) for follow-up intervention.

The MSW team also followed through to support her application for the PPO to protect herself and her baby.

She was referred to a family service centre for supportive counselling.

Her husband was ordered by the court to go for mandatory counselling. However, he hit her again and was sent to jail.

She is now filing for divorce and continues to receive support from the family service centre.

In another case, a newborn was found to be jittery and doctors suspected possible maternal drug exposure.

'When we spoke to the mother, she denied any drug use but expressed that it had been difficult for her and her two children since her husband left home without any word,' said Ms Eng.

With the newborn in hospital, Ms Eng and her colleagues were puzzled that the mother had not been visiting.

'We made a home visit and found her home in a mess,' said Ms Eng.

The mother was lying on the sofa looking drowsy and in a daze. Her other two children, aged 8 and 12, were playing and seemed hungry as they kept asking their mother to cook lunch.

'When we had a chance to speak with the children alone, we were told that there were often men and women they didn't know who visited their mother,' said Ms Eng.

The extended family had also suspected the mother's drug abuse, but they were not sure how to handle it.

'They were worried about the two children's safety with strangers coming in and out of the house,' said Ms Eng.

The extended family members could not care for the children as they had their own problems.

Ms Eng referred the baby and two kids to MCYS for further intervention of safety and of care arrangement.

'In the end, more relatives came forward and the children were placed in their care,' said Ms Eng.

This article was first published in The New Paper