S1E69: Megan Khung abuse case: How can we fix the system that failed her?

Oct 30, 2025

Theresa Tan, a seasoned social affairs correspondent, and Soh Siew Fong, a director at PAVE with expertise in family violence, dive into the tragic case of Megan Khung, who died from abuse. They discuss critical lapses in the system meant to protect children, including failures in communication among agencies and inadequate responses from authorities. The guests highlight the complexities of navigating child protection, the emotional impact of these revelations, and the urgent call for systemic changes to better safeguard vulnerable children in their communities.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Systemic Lapses Across Agencies

Multiple agencies failed to protect Megan due to lapses across CPS, CPSC and police procedures.
The review panel highlighted communication gaps, missed escalations and lack of supervisory oversight.

INSIGHT

Small Process Errors Have Big Consequences

Procedural breaches like failing to log calls prevented supervisors from intervening in time.
Small administrative slip-ups compounded into a fatal outcome.

INSIGHT

Caseloads Mask Case Complexity

Caseload numbers alone don't capture intensity: complex families need far more time than straightforward cases.
Training pipeline and retention matter as much as headcount to ensure skilled child-protection staff.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Megan Khung would have turned 10 a few weeks ago, if she were still alive today.

Synopsis: Join Natasha Ann Zachariah at The Usual Place every Thursday as she unpacks the latest current affairs with guests.

Instead, five years after her death, the findings by a review panel detailed how, within a year, there were several lapses at various agencies that could have helped her.

The panel’s report came after the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) said in April it would conduct a review of Megan’s case.

The girl died in 2020 after suffering physical and emotional abuse by her mother Foo Li Ping and her mother’s then-boyfriend Wong Shi Xiang.

The report’s timeline detailed what happened from the time staff members at Megan’s pre-school found bruises on her body to when the couple were arrested for murder, highlighting gaps in communication among agencies, lags in escalating the matter and a lack of follow-ups.

These agencies include Child Protective Service and the police.

In this episode of The Usual Place, I will discuss what the panel’s findings and recommendations tell us about accountability in the system, the complexities of navigating child abuse cases, and how we can do better to protect the most vulnerable among us.

I speak with ST’s senior social affairs correspondent Theresa Tan and director of clinical services at social service agency Pave Integrated Services Soh Siew Fong.

Highlights (click/tap above):

4:26 When abuse is dealing with life and death

8:12 Did the many helping hands framework fail?

10:00 When child protection is more than just hiring social workers

10:47 Supervising case workers

17:40 Why do social workers hesitate to make police reports?

30:06 How to attract new case workers

33:42 When physical punishment becomes abuse

41:35 Keeping children safe goes beyond case work

Read Natasha Ann Zachariah’s articles: https://str.sg/iSXm

Follow The Usual Place podcast on IG: https://www.instagram.com/theusualplacepodcast

Follow Natasha on LinkedIn: https://str.sg/v6DN