SINGAPORE: On Oct 23 (Thursday), the findings of a review panel on how the case of Megan Khung had been handled, were released. The four-year-old girl died in February 2020, after more than a year of abuse from her mother, Foo Li Ping, and her then-boyfriend, Brian Wong.
Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli apologised on Thursday, acknowledging that agencies could have done more to protect the little girl.
“As the lead for the national child protection system, I would like to say that we are sorry for the outcome. We cannot eradicate every risk of a child loss. But our resolve is absolute. We will do everything possible to prevent the recurrence of such tragedies,” said Mr Masagos.
“We will make sure that every link in our child protection ecosystem, every professional and agency, does its very best and more, to protect our vulnerable children,” he added.
The agencies involved in the review are the Ministry of Social and Family Development’s (MSF) child protective service (CPS); the Singapore Police Force (SPF); Beyond Social Services; Healthy Start Child Development Centre; the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA), and the HEART@Fei Yue child protection specialist centre.
Timeline of Megan’s life
Megan Khung was born on October 4, 2015, to Foo Li Ping and Simon Khung. Her parents were married in May that year, but divorced the following year.
Megan remained with her mother, who had custody of the child. Her father, known for having turned his life around after 16 years of drug addiction, alerted the police in July 2020, expressing concern for Megan’s safety.
This is the story of what happened to the little girl.
2017—Megan started attending a pre-school in Bukit Merah, the Healthy Start Child Development Centre. At the time, she and Foo were living with Foo’s mother, who cared deeply for her granddaughter.
2018—Foo started a relationship with Wong in November
January 2019—Foo moved to a rented apartment on Guillemard Road. While Megan stayed with her grandmother and was supposed to go to preschool during the week, she would stay with her mother and Wong on weekends. However, between February 18, 2019, and March 18, 2019, Megan attended preschool for only five days.
March 19, 2019—Preschool teachers noticed bruises on Megan’s body and informed school heads and social workers. Megan’s mother and grandmother were called in for a meeting, and Foo said that the child’s bruises were the result of a bicycle accident and disciplinary action.
With the child’s injuries attributed to “excessive discipline”, the meeting resulted in a care plan in which only Megan’s grandmother could bring and pick her up from school, and she could only spend nights at the grandmother’s house.
March 22, 2019—The grandmother informed the community worker at the preschool that she suspected Foo’s boyfriend of drug-related activities. Because this could not be verified, however, it was not part of the incident report submitted to ECDA.
In the months that followed, the community workers attempted several times to set up a family conference for a longer-term care plan for Megan, but Foo kept putting it off.
September 2019—Megan last attended preschool on Sept 5. On Sept 10, her grandmother told the school that the child was ill and was being cared for by her mother, who, she said, would bring Megan back to school on Sept 17. On that day, however, Foo told the school via email that she was withdrawing her daughter.
Her grandmother, meanwhile, did not actually know where Megan and Foo were, though she saw the little girl via video call.
Late 2019—Foo blocked calls from Megan’s grandmother, and when the agencies tried to reach out to her, she could not be contacted. While the authorities recommended that the grandmother file a police report, she was hesitant to do so, fearing that she would be cut off from her granddaughter completely.
A police report was finally filed in January 2020. However, in the following month, Megan died from the abuse she repeatedly received from Foo and Wong. It was discovered later that her body had been burned in a metal barrel.
On April 3, 2025, Foo received a 19-year jail sentence for the incidents before, after, and leading to the death of her child. Meanwhile, Wong, who had delivered the blow to Megan’s stomach that caused her death, was sentenced to 17 strokes of the cane and 30 years’ jail for his part, as well as for drug trafficking and consumption. /TISG
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