12 children from shelter homes to celebrate raya with their families

ALOR SETAR, May 29 (Bernama) -- Kota Setar District Social Welfare Department (SWD) together with the Alor Setar MP Service Centre is making arrangements to bring 12 children including teenagers who have been placed in shelter homes in other states to celebrate Aidilfitri with their respective families in Kedah.

Alor Setar Member of Parliament Chan Ming Kai said the children, aged between six and 14 years, were permanently housed at shelter homes for a certain period of time with a court order.

“For this Raya, we with the SWD and with the cooperation of the National Anti-Drugs Agency (NADA) in Kota Setar have taken the initiative to unite children from seven families with their families to celebrate Adilfitri together, considering the long school holidays for two weeks,” he said here today.

He was speaking to reporters after meeting a 13-year-old girl who was now housed at Rumah Kanak-Kanak Rembau, Negeri Sembilan with her mother, a 47-year-old drug addict in Tanjung Chali, here.

The teenager was temporarily staying with a female teacher in the city during the Aidilfitri school holidays and the teacher would take the teen to meet her mother on a daily basis and the child will be sent back to the children's shelter home at the end of the school holidays.

Some children whose parents were placed in drug rehabilitation centres, still had other family members to celebrate Aidilfitri with, he added.

The MP service centre, together with the district SWD and NADA, is committed to detect and assist children from troubled families, especially with parents who are drug addicts to avoid any untoward incidents from happening to them in the future.

-- BERNAMA