The stark reality of abandoned children

PETALING JAYA: She was abandoned as a little girl but a married man found her and took her in. She grew up under his care, always believing he was her father.

But when he divorced, she was sent to an orphanage, confused and abandoned again.

ALSO READ: I’m nobody’s child, nobody wants me

Yet, she refused to give up. She worked hard, excelled in her SPM and is now pursuing her bachelor’s degree. The pain of abandonment is behind her... almost.

She is one of the rare, luckier ones, says Prof Dr Isdawati Ismail

The stark reality of abandoned children in the country is that most are not getting adopted.

The big question is why?

The children’s rights group Be My Protector vice-chairman said figures from the Welfare Department (JKM) show that many children are being left without families.

“There are several factors for this, including the stringent adoption procedures in Malaysia requiring strict eligibility criteria that many potential adoptive parents struggle to meet.

“Cultural and religious sensitivities further complicate the process, particularly for older children. Awareness is also limited; many Malaysians are either unfamiliar with the legal process or deterred by stories of lengthy bureaucratic hurdles.

“One area urgently needing attention is post-adoption monitoring. In Malaysia, once a child is adopted, there is limited follow-up by welfare officers.”

Isdawati believes Malaysia should establish a structured post-adoption monitoring system, where trained JKM officers conduct home visits – initially every few months, then annually – to check on the child’s well-being.

Such a framework would not only protect children but also provide adoptive families with guidance and support, she said.

Sharmila Sekaran, the chair of the Voice of the Children (VoC) advocacy group said it was imperative to understand the reason behind why children are abandoned, and to resolve some of the root causes.

“We need trained government social workers to address underlying issues by providing support for young/single mothers, crisis intervention services to help keep families together and children with disabilities.

“We also need to move towards family-based care as a priority, away from institutionalised care. Above all, we need to improve the child welfare system,” she said.

Sharmila also pointed out that abandoned children come in all ages, but usually babies are the ones that get adopted. Most people are not keen on older children for various reasons, including inaccurate presumptions.

This also has to do with citizenship concerns because obtaining the papers is a long, emotional, arduous exercise, besides being expensive.

“The amendment to the Federal Constitution (on Citizenship) does not seem to have helped much. The law granting foundlings the automatic right to citizenship has been in existence for many years, but has not been applied,” she said.

OrphanCare Foundation general manager Zakiah A Rahman said adoptive parents should not be afraid of adopting babies from baby hatches (including undocumented ones).

“We are seeing a lot of babies from the hatch being granted citizenship in 2024 and 2025,” said Zakiah, adding that more babies are received through baby hatches than from birth mothers

She added that the 2024 amendments to citizenship applications for adopted children has resulted in OrphanCare seeing more abandoned babies being granted citizenship after adoption.

“OrphanCare does not keep babies, we make sure they find a home. We do not want the babies to go orphanages,” she said.

Just this year, OrphanCare has received 41 babies, 23 from hatches and 18 from biological mothers. Since 2020, 193 babies have been adopted from OrphanCare.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has pledged to resolve all pending citizenship applications by this October.

In December, he said the ministry had reviewed a total of 32,408 citizenship applications over the past two years, many of which had been pending for over five years.