Rejected but not without hope
KUALA LUMPUR: Their parents left them with an acquaintance – having promised to return after getting diapers.
That was five years ago and the last time brothers Ashraf, nine, and Ashfan, eight, (not their real names) saw their parents.
The boys were handed over to the Welfare Department who placed them in a shelter run by Yayasan Chow Kit.
Yayasan Chow Kit chief operating officer R. Ananti said the boys, not unlike many older children in institutions across the country, faced difficulty getting adopted.
“People prefer to foster or adopt babies,” said Ananti.
She said there were cases where foster or adoptive parents returned the children to the institutions after changing their minds.
This also sadly happened to Ashfan and Ashraf.
The Welfare Department managed to find a family who initially agreed to take them but they were returned to the home.
The family claimed the boys were not a perfect fit for them.
“Children who are put in homes already experience that first feeling of rejection. After being sent back, their sense of rejection is even worse,” Ananti said.
Compounding the problem is the fact that the boys are stateless as their births were never registered by their Malaysian father and Indonesian mother who never married.
Being stateless, she said, made it difficult for the boys to receive an education as most government schools will not accept them without proper documentation.
Ashfan and Ashraf, however, are still hopeful of being adopted one day.
“It’s not nice ( tak best) to live without parents,” said Ashfan.
“My brother likes to bother ( kacau) me too much!” he added, grinning while gesturing to his older brother.
He also said he was envious of his friends who had families.
“Those who have families are happier than those who don’t.”
Ashraf nodded in agreement.