A boy orphaned by divorce
sharjah — The parents of 12-yearold Amal (name changed) are alive and well, but divorced. They don’t have space for him in their new lives and have chosen to abandon him.
The emotionally devastated Arab boy is now recovering under the watchful eye of the Sharjah Social Services Department’s child care centre.
Ahmed Al Tartoor, director of the department, said the father went to the department and left the boy there after he remarried. The reason: His second wife refused to accept the child. The little boy’s mother also refused to keep him, saying her new spouse would not agree to keep his stepson in the house.
Al Tartoor said the boy has been left traumatised as his friends in school know he’s been “rejected and dumped” by his own parents.
sharjah — While most parents fight for the custody of their children after a divorce, in a recent case, the parents of a 12-year-old Arab boy have chosen to abandon him.
The boy, a grade 8 student at a public school in Sharjah, has been left emotionally devastated. He’s now under the care of the child care centre affiliated to the Sharjah Social Services Department (SSSD).
Ahmed Al Tartoor, director of child rights protection department, said the father went to the department and left the boy there after he remarried. He claimed his second wife refused to accept the child.
The boy’s mother also refused to keep the boy as her new spouse would not agree to keep his stepson in the house. The mother told the department that she handed the boy to his father.
The director added that as the boy is entering adolescence, a stage in life that requires care and attention from both parents, he has been left traumatised. He is said to be ashamed of his situation as his school friends know that he was rejected by his parents and “dumped” at the child care centre.
The boy keeps pointing out how he has been abandoned at a child care centre, considered to be a place for orphaned children, while his parents are still alive and enjoy great health. His mother comes to the centre every weekend to spend time with her son, but that is not the solution for the case. “His mother’s abandonment leaves him to deal with significant emotional, mental and psychological after-effects,” said Al Tartoor.
Al Tartoor explained that the attachment of the child to his mother is stronger than that to his father and he will suffer emotional scars and low self-esteem.
The boy will be provided all social and psychological support at the centre, while the Child Rights Protection Department will file a suit against the father who neglected and dumped his child for reasons that are not acceptable. “Our children are our responsibility which we must bear until they grow up and can depend on themselves,” he said.