By ANDREA FILMER
PENANG: The state will not push for negligence charges to be filed against the mother of Yeap Jia Hui, the 10-year-old boy who was left home alone for almost two years in an apartment in Batu Ferringhi here.
"Everyone deserves a second chance and Yeap Kim Hong (Jia Hui's mother) seems regretful of her actions.
"The state hopes to play the role of bringing people together rather than keeping them apart," said state Health, Welfare and Caring Society Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh.
Phee said that after persuasion from state Welfare Department officers and other family members, Kim Hong had agreed to allow Jia Hui stay with his grandaunt in Kuantan, Pahang.
Jia Hui will reside in his grandmother's apartment, located a few floors below the unkempt apartment in which he was left alone, for the next month until legal issues are ironed out.
A Welfare Department officer said that this was a temporary measure as the mother still had rights over the child.
"In this sort of case, the grandaunt will be appointed temporary guardian as the mother is currently unfit to take care of the child," the officer said. The Welfare Department is in the process of accessing whether the grandaunt, 59-year-old housewife Yeap Choon Lean, and her retired husband would be able to provide a suitable environment for Jia Hui. Phee also said that the department would sort out a visitation schedule with Kim Hock to enable her to see her son.
"Parents and children should be together and we want to keep the bond of love between the mother and child," he said.
Until last weekend, Jia Hui was fending for himself with the RM30 a month that his mother deposited into a bank account for which she had given him an ATM card.
It was reported that his mother, who was working in Kuala Lumpur, visited him once every two to three weeks.
PENANG: The state will not push for negligence charges to be filed against the mother of Yeap Jia Hui, the 10-year-old boy who was left home alone for almost two years in an apartment in Batu Ferringhi here.
"Everyone deserves a second chance and Yeap Kim Hong (Jia Hui's mother) seems regretful of her actions.
"The state hopes to play the role of bringing people together rather than keeping them apart," said state Health, Welfare and Caring Society Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh.
Phee said that after persuasion from state Welfare Department officers and other family members, Kim Hong had agreed to allow Jia Hui stay with his grandaunt in Kuantan, Pahang.
Jia Hui will reside in his grandmother's apartment, located a few floors below the unkempt apartment in which he was left alone, for the next month until legal issues are ironed out.
A Welfare Department officer said that this was a temporary measure as the mother still had rights over the child.
"In this sort of case, the grandaunt will be appointed temporary guardian as the mother is currently unfit to take care of the child," the officer said. The Welfare Department is in the process of accessing whether the grandaunt, 59-year-old housewife Yeap Choon Lean, and her retired husband would be able to provide a suitable environment for Jia Hui. Phee also said that the department would sort out a visitation schedule with Kim Hock to enable her to see her son.
"Parents and children should be together and we want to keep the bond of love between the mother and child," he said.
Until last weekend, Jia Hui was fending for himself with the RM30 a month that his mother deposited into a bank account for which she had given him an ATM card.
It was reported that his mother, who was working in Kuala Lumpur, visited him once every two to three weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment