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Thursday January 24, 2013

Five file reports against home

By RASHITHA A. HAMID
rashitha@thestar.com.my


KUALA LUMPUR: Five former residents of a halfway house in Gombak, which was closed last year by the Welfare Department, have made police reports against the welfare home.

In their report against Kem Modal Insan Kewaja home in Gombak, the five claimed that their babies were given up for adoption without their consent. They also claimed that they were told to pay for their own babies if they wanted the infants for themselves.

The home, which sheltered unwed pregnant teenagers and women, was ordered to be closed following complaints that it was not registered.

Even living conditions at the welfare home were found to be poor.

City CID chief Senior Asst Comm Datuk Ku Chin Wah said the five were among 17 teenagers who escaped from the welfare home and sought the help of the Federal Territory Welfare Department in November.

He said three of the teenagers had claimed that the home gave away their babies to foster families without their consent and had not even allowed them to see their newborns.

“They lodged a report on Monday claiming that they were asked to pay a sum of money to get their babies back,” he said at a press conference yesterday.

SAC Ku said police were investigating the case under the Human Trafficking Act and would seek out the foster families to facilitate investigation.

The teenagers claimed that they were asked to sign documents when registering at the home.

“They were not allowed to know the contents of the documents,” SAC Ku said.

Kem Modal Insan Kewaja, which occupies two units of a row of single-storey terrace houses in Kam­pung Sungai Mulia, had been in operation for 24 years.

The home was not registered and also did not meet standards set by the department.

There should only be 28 women for the space available at the halfway house.

Instead, it housed 69.

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