Five Emirati children abandoned by parents... living with maids

After the shocking murder of an eight-year-old girl by her father, Dubai has been rocked by another family tragedy involving five Emirati children who have been abandoned by their divorced mother and left to live with two housemaids.

Police found the five, aged between two and 10 years, at home with two Asian maids, who said their mother rarely come to the house and have instructed them to keep the children inside their rooms so they will not see her when she comes.

An Emirati woman, a friend of that mother, discovered the children’s ordeal when she no longer heard from her friend and decided to visit her at home.

When she was told about the situation by the two maids, she immediately decided to inform the police.

“We had wished that what that woman told us was not true…...but unfortunately, it was true,” said Colonel Mohammed Al Murr, deputy director of the General Department for Human Rights in Dubai.

“We at once formed a team, who visited the children at home…we found that they lived in tragic conditions…the maids told us that their mother, who had been given custody by court following her divorce, rarely comes to that house…and when she comes, the children are kept inside their rooms so they will not see her,” he told the Arabic language daily Emirat Alyoum.

Murr said police summoned the mother and interrogated her but that she gave unconvincing reasons for her behavior, including that she has financial problems.

“The children have been deprived from maternal and paternal feelings…two housemaids can not compensate them for a mother’s role….they were so deprived of maternal feelings that the little girl has become very attached to the police woman who is looking after her,” he said.

Murr said the children include three boys aged 10, 9 and 7 years, and two girls aged 6 and 2.5 years, adding that only the two elder brothers go to school while the families of their parents are not even bothered to see them.

According to Major Isac Mohammed, director of the women and children protection department in Dubai, their father had supported them until he got married again and moved to another area with his new family.

“The conditions in which they children have lived are totally inhuman and are very dangerous to them…leaving children at this age on their own with two housemaids is very risky,” he said.

“I have been in touch with the mother after I noticed that she was ignoring the team set up to look after her children,…I asked her why she neglected her children at this age but she came up with totally unconvincing reasons…she said that she was suffering from financial problems including owing large sums of money to banks and that she was worried about prosecution…but she never gave us any convincing reason for abandoning her children.”

He said the father has now pledged to visit the children daily until the court issues a new order abolishing the mother’s custody, adding that the team is in daily contact with the maids to ensure they are visited by their father.

“We are also sending the team to see the kids every day…but this solution is not enough for now as the children are in danger of staying on their own….we have contacted the court to grant the father temporary custody urgently until a final settlement is reached in this respect.”

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