Even if a child is born with a physical or mental disability, it is undoubtedly always the duty of their parent to care for them with utmost love. This father clearly didn’t get the memo, as he left his 2 year-old son, who is afflicted with Down syndrome, with a nanny for a year, and now refuses to take him back!
Oriental Daily reported the case of a 2-year-old boy named Lee living in Pandamaran, a town in Klang, who was born with Down syndrome and asthma, and has been in the care of a nanny over the past year. According to Wong, who is the husband of the nanny, the boy’s father was a local town resident, who married a Vietnamese woman. The couple divorced some time ago, and the boy’s mother has since returned to Vietnam.
Wong claims that although he and his wife contacted Lee’s father numerous times to take him back, the latter never made good on his promises to do so. “I told him he can’t leave the child in my house forever, at which point he promised he would take him home. After a while he stopped returning our calls, and never even called to ask about his son,” Wong says.
Things came to a breaking point this year during the Lunar festive season, when Wong called Lee again, threatening to send Lee to an orphanage or welfare centre if he refused to collect him. Lee’s father started hurling verbal abuse then, demanding that Wong and his wife continue taking care of his son, and ensure that his son has a coffin prepared for him at his death. What in the world…
As a result, Wong and his wife now have their hands tied. Aside from not receiving any payment from the father, they are also struggling financially, according to Sin Chew. All expenses for the child, from diapers to milk powder, have been forked out by the couple up until this point. To make things worse, neither Wong nor his wife have high-paying jobs either, as one is a retiree and the other does not have a source of income. On top of all that, they have grandchildren of their own to care of. That’s really too much of a burden to be shouldered by anyone, let alone a pair of elderly folks!
To the best of his knowledge, Wong says that Lee has a sister, who was also put in the care of another nanny at the beginning. However, Lee’s sister has since returned to her father’s side, leaving Lee to be without a family.
This harrowing case has since been brought to the attention of Pandamaran state assemblyman Leong Tuck Chee, who held a press conference yesterday morning (March 24), in hopes that it will encourage the boy’s father to bring him home once and for all.
Leong is giving the infant’s father a week to contact the Pandamaran government office at 03-31631139. If there is no word from him by then, there will be no other way but to put Lee in the care of the Department of Social Welfare.
This news just breaks our hearts, knowing that Lee has been all but abandoned by his family. We hope this innocent boy finds the love he so greatly deserves, in a home that will give him all that he needs, wherever that may be.
Also read: 7yo Perlis Girl Found Locked Alone Inside House by Her Own Mother & Abandoned For 5 Days