Penang Welfare Department still unable to locate families of 18 children rescued from warehouse

GEORGE TOWN, Aug 8 — The Penang Welfare Department is still unable to locate the parents or guardians of 18 children who were rescued from a warehouse in Bukit Mertajam last month, with the absence of proper documentation for most of them posing a major challenge.

State Social Development, Welfare, and Non-Islamic Religious Affairs Committee chairman Lim Siew Khim said that 12 of the children have no personal documents, leaving their citizenship status uncertain.

“Out of the 20 children rescued, only seven had proper documents. So far, guardians of two children have come forward to bring them home,” Lim said during the AI Horizon 2025 conference.

Among the remaining 18 children now in state care is a newborn baby without a birth certificate.

All of the children, aged below 16, were rescued on July 21 from two premises — one of which was a warehouse allegedly operating as an illegal childcare centre.

“We’ve been trying to trace their families, but the lack of documents has made the process difficult,” Lim said, adding that public appeals through the media may be necessary to help identify the children’s relatives.

Preliminary investigations suggest that some of the children may have been living at the premises for up to two years.

Psychologists have interviewed the children, and most of them are only able to speak Mandarin.

“We’re working with several agencies to determine their citizenship status,” Lim added.

The children are now under the care of the state welfare department in a secure facility, following a temporary custody order granted by the Bukit Mertajam court.

“All the children are being properly cared for, with activities provided to support their physical and emotional well-being,” she said.