Johor women, family, and community development committee chairman Khairin-Nisa Ismail (right) visiting the safe house under the Welfare Department in Johor Baru.
JOHOR BARU: All children of a welfare home in Kulai have been transferred following the case of an underage girl who was allegedly raped at the premise.
State women, family and community development committee chairman Khairin-Nisa Ismail said the case is currently under police investigation.
“The state Welfare Department (JKM) had conducted an initial investigation into the welfare centre and identified 55 children staying there.
“Following intervention on Dec 10, JKM successfully reunited 32 children with their biological parents.
“Meanwhile, 23 children (10 boys and 13 girls) were rescued and placed in a safe house under the supervision of JKM granted under Section 18 of the Child Act,” she said in a statement on Tuesday (Dec 17).
Khairin-Nisa said on Dec 11, the 23 rescued children were brought before the Court for Children, which issued a temporary order under Section 19(2) of the Child Act, allowing them to remain in the designated safe house.
She also said JKM has enforced a temporary closure order on the welfare centre under Section 15 of the Care Centres Act with the directive issued by the Welfare Department director-general.
“The state government, through JKM, takes child abuse issues seriously and is committed to addressing them comprehensively.
"We encourage the public and community to actively ensure that child abuse cases do not occur by reporting any incident to the police or the nearest welfare office," Khairin-Nisa said.
She highlighted the availability of the Talian Kasih 15999 hotline, operated 24 hours a day by the Women, Family, and Community Development Ministry, to facilitate the reporting of abuse cases.
"In accordance with Section 29A of the Child Act (Amendment 2016), individuals who are aware of child abuse cases must report them to a child protector at their nearest district welfare office," she added.
Khairin-Nisa expressed her gratitude to state agencies including the police, Health Department and Education Department for their close cooperation in assisting JKM.
"We hope that proactive action and prompt reporting by the public will help to prevent the recurrence of such incidents," she said.
On Nov 29, police received a report of a rape case involving an underaged victim at a welfare home in Kulai.
Another police report was lodged on Dec 18 following a viral video of child abuse at the same location.
According to reports, police have arrested a local man on Nov 30 for allegedly raping one of the residents at the orphanage.