PUBLISHED ONOctober 23, 2025 8:30 AMUPDATEDOctober 27, 2025 2:34 PMBYChing Shi Jie[UPDATE] The Child Protective Service (CPS) officer, who is currently under disciplinary investigation for her handling of the fatal abuse of Megan Khung, has not been suspended from her duties.
The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) said this on Oct 27 in response to queries from AsiaOne.
MSF revealed that the officer is currently deployed to an operational role in the ministry’s Rehabilitation and Protection Group, which works in close contact with children and families.
“Suspension of duties is determined on a case-by-case basis, depending on the nature of the disciplinary inquiry and the assessment of the circumstances.
“For this case, MSF had considered the officer’s current performance and is satisfied that she continues to be suitable for deployment,” said MSF.
A review panel convened to examine the fatal abuse of four-year-old Megan Khung found instances of a “lack of clear understanding and communication” among the agencies involved in the events leading up to her death.
It listed five findings and seven recommendations surrounding the case, detailed in a 42-page report released on Thursday (Oct 23).
Among the key findings was that the report of Megan’s injuries when they were first discovered by her pre-school could have been submitted earlier and with more detail.
And when she had gone missing, a police report could have been lodged months earlier. The investigation officer, who assessed the case to be low risk, tried to look for her, but did not inform her supervisor she was unsuccessful.
Megan, whose tragic death in February 2020 shocked the nation, was physically and emotionally abused by her mother Foo Li Peng, 29, and her then-boyfriend Wong Shi Xiang, 38, for over a year. The abuse they'd inflicted including starvation, beatings and forcing Megan to sleep outside.
Megan died after she was fatally punched in the stomach by Wong on Feb 21, 2020. Her body was burned in a metal barrel in May and her remains were never recovered.
The couple’s crimes only came to light after Megan’s biological father, Khung Wei Nan, better known online as Simonboy, lodged a police report on July 20, which led to their arrests.
On April 3, 2025, Foo was sentenced to 19 years’ jail, while Wong was sentenced to 30 years in jail and 17 strokes of the cane.
A friend of the couple, Nouvelle Chua Ruoshi, 35, faces charges for helping to dispose of Megan's body.
The review panel, set up by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) in May, looked into the responses of all parties involved in the case.
These included the Healthy Start Child Development Centre (HSCDC), Beyond Social Services (BSS), Early Childhood Development Authority (ECDA), MSF’s Child Protective Service (CPS), Heart @Fei Yue Child Protection Specialist Centre (CPSC), as well as the police.
Stated the panel in its report: “While there were appropriate actions taken by the agencies involved in some instances, there were also areas where [they] could have done better.
“Hence, this case held many lessons for each agency, on how they could have done more to protect Megan.”
According to the review, Megan’s preschool principal at Healthy Start Child Development Centre was on overseas leave when teachers first discovered the girl’s injuries on March 19, 2019.
The incident report, prepared by community workers from Beyond Social Services (BSS), was submitted by the principal 17 days later on April 5. It described “bruises on Megan’s face, arms, thighs, feet, buttocks” which are due to "physical punishment that was excessive".
The panel, however, noted that the report did not state the extent of other injuries that Megan had suffered, and it also differed from how her teachers subsequently described them after her death.
A passing comment from Megan’s grandmother — that Foo could have been using drugs and that Wong was a drug dealer — was also not included in the report.
“The panel believes these additional details on the full extent of the injuries and suspected drug use, even if said drug use was not verified, would have likely raised the level of suspicion and could have prompted ECDA to refer the case to Child Protective Service,” the review stated.
Also omitted in the incident report were photographs of Megan’s injuries that were taken by her teacher and shared with community workers and the principal.
The panel noted that Early Childhood Department Centres Regulations did not specify how injuries should be described in incident reports, but the photographs provided a clear picture of the extent of Megan's injuries which “if submitted, would have made it plainly evident to ECDA that this was a case of child abuse”.
The review also found that the teacher and community workers were told to delete the photos that were taken “without the parent’s consent”, but that the former did not do so as she felt it was important to have them as a record of the serious nature of the injuries on Megan.
The photos were then available as part of the evidence collected during the police’s investigations into Foo, Wong and Chua.
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The panel also noted that there were instances of interactions between the agencies at various points from September to October 2019 which could have possibly flagged that Megan was at risk.
This was after Megan's grandmother had told the preschool on Sept 10 that the girl was unwell and was being cared for by Foo and was staying with her — a breach of the care plan.
Foo then withdrew Megan from the preschool seven days later, citing the centre's lack of Chinese language lessons, before becoming uncontactable.
On the two calls made by BSS to CPS between Sept 20 and 25, 2019 — of which only one of the audio recordings could be retrieved — the panel said that BSS’ communication of the situation to CPS could have been clearer.
The CPS officer could also have probed further by asking questions to seek more details on the extent of the bruises, so as to more accurately gauge the risk of Megan staying with her mother.
“Doing so could have been more likely to uncover information that would have prompted CPS to follow-up on the basis that Megan might be at risk of harm,” it added.
The panel noted that the officer did not register the call, which is against established processes in CPS at that time.
This meant that the call was not discussed further with the supervisor on duty, it said, which prevented the possibility of saving Megan.
MSF has since commenced a disciplinary investigation into the actions of the CPS officer.
On Sept 25, 2019, following a call and email from BSS’ community workers, staff from Heart@Fei Yue tried to arrange a meeting with Megan’s family but did not proceed further.
To this end, the panel said that they should have taken up Megan’s case when contacted by BSS, rather than simply providing advice on what care is needed.
There was also a perception from the agencies that only family members can make a police report on a missing child — when anyone could have a made the report.
At that time, the community worker from BSS had attempted to convince Megan’s grandmother to make a police report, but she was hesitant to do so as she did not want to be further estranged from Foo.
The panel said that by early Oct 2019, it should have been clear to the social service agency that they could have gone ahead to lodge a police report themselves when Foo had gone uncontactable for some time.
“It should have been clear that the wishes of the grandmother should no longer take priority over Megan’s safety,” it said.
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It took nearly four months later, on Jan 17, 2020, before BBS’ community workers accompanied Megan’s grandmother to lodge a police report.
The panel found that the investigation officer assessed the matter to be “a case of child discipline with low safety concern”, and told her supervisor that she would follow up with contacting Foo.
Over the next two weeks, the officer attempted to locate Megan and her mother, but did not inform her supervisor that she was unsuccessful. She was later deployed for Covid-19-related duties.
The supervisor also did not raise the report for further discussion.
The panel said that the police had “internal controls” then to ensure that cases of missing children were followed up on, which included multiple levels of supervision and checks with guidance by senior supervisors.
Both officers were disciplined for not following procedures which prevented “timely and appropriate action” on the first police report, according to the panel.
Responding to AsiaOne’s queries, the police said that the investigation officer has since resigned.
A financial penalty was imposed on the supervisor. He is still serving in the Singapore Police Force.
In the report, the panel also listed improvements made since 2020 as well as recommendations to strengthen the child protection system.
These included a new national anti-violence and sexual harassment hotline for anyone to report domestic violence and updated guidelines for preschools to report child abuse cases.
As for recommendations, the panel said that all cases of child abuse should primarily be handled by child protection case management agencies such as CPS and family service centres, and to ensure that they are adequately resourced, said the panel.
The panel has also recommended that MSF look into how to create a culture and environment with social service professionals feel safe and supported to report potential child abuse cases, including lodging a police report.
Speaking to the media following the release of the report, panel chair Professor Kenneth Poon said he is satisfied that the gaps the review has identified have been addressed by the agencies over the past five years.
“Work in child protection is complex and can be difficult. It is necessary for us to acknowledge the hard work of professionals in this area,” said Prof Poon, who is Singapore’s representative on the Asean Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children.
He hopes that the social service sector would not be judged based on its handling of Megan Khung’s abuse.
“As a review panel, we really wanted to ask ourselves, ‘how can we as a sector come together from this incident so that every child can be protected… and we can learn and also to support families in the process?’”
In response to the report, MSF said that it accepts the review’s recommendations and will study how to implement them.
“The tragic death of Megan has saddened all of us,” it said. “We are sorry for the outcome and acknowledge that more should have been done when we handled the case.
”Megan’s case strengthens our resolve to do better, to act sooner and continue to work tirelessly so that every child in our care is safe, protected and given the chance to thrive.”
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chingshijie@asiaone.com
