18-year-old orphans have nowhere to go from shelter homes

KOTA KINABALU: Older orphaned children need parenting as much as babies who are put up for adoption.

However, the older children – some in their teens – are often not considered by couples wanting to adopt, says Kota Kinabalu’s Children’s Home supervisor Laura Timbah.

Most couples look for babies for adoption and are not too keen to adopt the older children who are also hoping to get into permanent homes, she said.

She said there were hundreds of families in the state wanting only to adopt babies. Very few were interested in the bigger children, some of whom were already in their teens, but would have to leave the home when they turn 18.

Some fear they cannot handle such teens or that the children will not become attached to them or go back to their biological families, Timbah said,

However, she said many teenagers were keen to be adopted as they wanted to be with families.

The state government-run shelter in Kinarut near here caters for 93 children aged between two months and 17 years, all of whom were orphaned or abandoned by the parents.

Some are also victims of domestic abuse.

Among them are 40 children who are aged between 12 and 17.

“These teenagers need parenting as much as younger children,” she said in urging couples or families planning to adopt to consider the older children.

“Our concept is to make the home a temporary shelter for neglected children and we want them to be adopted by foster parents or taken back by their biological parents,” she said.

She added that these teenagers needed homes as they were by law required to leave the shelter and search for their own accommodations outside the home once they turn 18.

That is why these children need to return to their respective families or relatives or have new families adopt them as soon as possible, she said, adding that the Welfare Department would monitor the progress of the children with their new families for three years.

She said some of the children who turned 18 had no confidence to stay on their own and some of their staff voluntarily looked after them.

She hoped non-governmental groups will also come in and assist these teens to learn living skills like cooking, gardening, housekeeping or any other skills that can help them to live in the world outside their shelter.