Stringent background checks are conducted on child adoption applicants to avoid the children from falling prey to beggar syndicates, said Kelantan Welfare Services Department director Md Noor Chik.
He said the sight of children begging in the streets of the state capital prompted the department to carry out stringent checks when processing the adoption application.
“We know that syndicates have been exploiting children by throwing them to the streets to beg for money. However, it is difficult to track down thesyndicates, which are monitoring the child beggars,” he told Bernama yesterday.
Among the conditions imposed on child adoption are applicants must be married and have good socio-economic background while it will be easier if the applicants are related to the children’s parents or the adoption is agreed byt he parents.
Md Noor said the department, which received 43 applications for child adoption last year, gave away 14 babies, two of them were abandoned at a bus station, for adoption.
— BERNAMA
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