Fatimah: Ministry to give support to expecting underage girls

KUCHING (Dec 5): The Ministry of Women, Early Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development will provide support to teenage girls who fall pregnant at a very young age, said minister Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah.

She said her ministry aims to take a more forward-looking approach to support these underage girls in dealing with pregnancy out of wedlock, while safeguarding the welfare of both the mothers and their babies.

“The idea is, if teenage pregnancy does happen, we need to move on and we want to make sure the young mothers can move on as well and to start a new chapter in their life,” said Fatimah during a press conference at her office in Baitulmakmur Building II at Petra Jaya yesterday.

She said various government policies have been put in place to allow underage mothers to seek help for their situation, particularly so when teenage pregnancy posed significant health risks to both the mothers and the babies.

“To girls who might need protection, a safe and nurturing place to stay throughout their pregnancy till birth, we have Taman Sri Puteri in Kuching,” she added.

She informed that Taman Sri Puteri located at Telaga Air here provides a secure location for expecting underage mothers, and they are given the options of whether to put the baby up for adoption or to be raised by the underage girl’s family once the child is born.

“Pregnancy is already a difficult process for an ordinary adult and what more to say to a child. It must have been overwhelming for them since they cannot talk to their parents about it and there is no place for them to share their concerns.”

Providing statistics on baby dumping cases in Sarawak, Fatimah highlighted there had been 10 cases in 2016; four in 2017; 10 in 2018; five each in 2019 and 2020; 10 in 2021; five in 2022; and four this year so far.

Moreover, the ministry worked with other government departments, such as Education Department, to enable underage mothers to resume their studies after giving birth, she added.

She further said arrangement could also be made to have the girl enrolled into a new school to avoid stigmatisation.

She explained that underage girls who fell pregnant had a high tendency of dropping out from school and thus, jeopardising their future.

On adoption of babies born out of wedlock, Fatimah reminded that proper adoption process must be followed to avoid the child from facing the daunting task of applying for citizenship later in life.

Fatimah also informed that there is only one operational baby hatch facility in Sarawak located at Borneo Medical Centre here, while another such facility at a private hospital is in the final stage of being set up.

At the same time, she said various sexual education programmes have been carried out in secondary schools to promote awareness and the initiative will be expanded to primary schools next year.

Fatimah also expressed sadness over the recent case of an abandoned baby here, born to a girl who was only 14 years old.

Meanwhile, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) exchange ceremony took place during the press conference between Fatimah’s ministry and the state Prisons Department to facilitate programmes in reintegrating former inmates into the society.