Saving babies, rebuilding families | Star Golden Hearts Award 2025 - video Dailymotion

The Star

Driven by her late husband Datuk Adnan Mohd Tahir’s belief that every child deserves a family, Datin Elya Lim Abdullah continues his legacy through the OrphanCare Foundation — the organisation behind Malaysia’s first baby hatch, offering mothers in crisis a safe alternative to abandoning their newborns.  Since its founding in 2009, OrphanCare has rescued 702 babies, reintegrated older institutionalised children with their families, and placed many others in adoptive homes through rigorous screening and counselling.  For their noble efforts, OrphanCare Foundation is named as one of the 10 winners of the Star Golden Hearts Award 2025, an annual award by The Star that honours everyday Malaysian unsung heroes.  For more details, visit https://www.sgha.com.my/   WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00Assalamualaikum and hallo everyone.

00:02My name is Elia Adnan and I'm one of the trustees of OffenCare Foundation.

00:08Assalamualaikum, good afternoon.

00:10My name is Noraysha Osman and I'm also from OffenCare.

00:15We are one of the winners of the Star Golden Hearts Award 2025.

00:30While many believe that children's homes offer a safe haven, the truth is often far more heartbreaking.

00:41For years, countless children have grown up in institutions waiting, hoping and longing for families that never came.

00:50This painful reality moved the late Dato' Adnan Muhammad Tahir to take action.

00:54Out of that compassion, the OffenCare Foundation, a Malaysian non-profit organisation, was born in 2009.

01:04Adnan's wife, Datin Elia Lim Abdullah, who is also a trustee of OffenCare, said her husband had always been drawn to charitable work

01:12and his visits to children's homes in the early 2000s inspired him to focus on helping abandoned children.

01:19And what really got him to start OffenCare was probably based on the many visits that both of us went,

01:31especially during Ramadan.

01:34And we would go and visit these homes, children's homes.

01:38And for me, it was quite an eye-opener.

01:40For him, it was like basically confirming what he believed in,

01:45and that the children in all these orphanages, they needed a better place.

01:51In its early days, OffenCare relied on personal funds from Elia and her husband,

01:56as well as contributions from other trustees.

01:59As public awareness grew, donations began to come in.

02:04Their first headquarters and baby hatch were later opened in Kampung Tungkus Lango,

02:09marking the start of Malaysia's first baby hatch initiative.

02:13The hatch, a small temperature-controlled compartment built into the wall of their centre,

02:19allows mothers in crisis to leave their babies anonymously and safely,

02:24instead of abandoning them by the roadside.

02:27When the babies are placed in the hatch, we have to report them to the police,

02:35and also they have to be brought to the hospitals for check-up.

02:38After they've been declared healthy and all that,

02:41then there's a process where we have to bring them to makamah kanak-kanak,

02:44so that temporary custody will be given to the adoptive parents.

02:49The adoptive parents being interviewed by us to see if they meet the criteria and all that.

02:55OftenCare has since expanded its reach across Malaysia with offices in Johor Bahru and Sungai Petani,

03:02as well as six additional hatches in collaboration with KPJ Hospitals.

03:07To date, the foundation has helped 702 babies,

03:12with about 20% reunited with their birth families and 70% adopted into new homes.

03:18Beyond baby hatches, the foundation also provides shelter for walking pregnant mothers in crisis.

03:26But OftenCare's work does not stop there.

03:29The foundation also reaches out to older children who have spent years in institutional care.

03:35Rumah kanak-kanak is the same as orphanages, but pusat kanak-kanak is meant to be temporary.

03:41From this group and from the other group, there will be children who can be reintegrated.

03:47We have actually been collaborating with government to say that,

03:51look, children must not be institutionalised, no matter for what reason.

03:58To date, OftenCare has helped 31 older children find adoptive families

04:02and 86 others reintegrate with their biological families.

04:06Reintegration only happens when parents are financially and emotionally ready

04:12and when both parent and child agree to it.

04:16All prospective adoptive parents are required to attend training and counselling sessions before adoption.

04:23Firstly, we make them aware of what is about adopting a baby or an older child.

04:30We tell them, look, you need to look into counselling, child psychological care

04:36and you need to be very careful about their behaviour.

04:40Like, you may need to have occupational therapists.

04:43Some of them can suffer from, like, they don't know what to do, like, in a home

04:48because they have never been in a home.

04:50They don't even know how to call the parent, the mother.

04:54So we always tell them, look, don't force it.

05:00Beyond its direct programmes, the foundation also focuses heavily on prevention,

05:06reaching out to low-income communities to raise awareness

05:09on how to prevent parents from abandoning their children.

05:13So we are approaching these PPR flats as an awareness by educating them

05:20about the harms of separating a child from a mum.

05:24Poverty cannot be a good reason to put your child in a private home or a government home.

05:31We talk to them.

05:32We say, don't do that.

05:34If you have problems, let us help you.

05:38Today, the foundation stands as a model for child welfare work in Malaysia.

05:43Its tireless efforts have earned national recognition,

05:46including being named to one of this year's Star Golden Hearts Award winners.

05:51We hope with the expansion of more baby hatches,

05:55we can reach out to more babies being saved

05:58and also supporting birth mothers who not only parent their children,

06:05but those who have had to make an adoption plan.

06:07We hope to support them also.

06:09We are very honoured to have been given the award

06:13and bottom line is each child should have a family,

06:16whether it's a baby or it's from the orphanage.

06:19We hope to support them.

06:20We hope to support them.

Saving babies, rebuilding families | Star Golden Hearts Award 2025

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