Girl living in Circuit Road wet market stall to stay with foster parents: MSF

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) has found foster parents for the 15-year-old girl who lived in a wet market stall for 11 months.

The girl, who relieved herself in pails in the Circuit Road Market and Food Centre stall her father rented, will be discharged from hospital and be put in foster care by the end of May.

An MSF spokesman told The Straits Times on May 17 that any contact between the girl and her father while she is in foster care will be closely supervised.

Her father, 63, is assisting with investigations into ill-treatment of a child or young person by neglect under the Children and Young Persons Act.

Those convicted can be jailed for up to eight years, fined up to $8,000, or both.

The MSF spokesman said the child's safety and stability are the ministry's main considerations when matching any child with suitable foster parents.

Said MSF: "In this case, the foster parents must be able to manage a child with developmental needs.

"This involves working with the foster parents to understand and meet the child's needs, and providing professional support when required, for example, to manage trauma issues."

MSF added the foster care worker and the child protection officer overseeing the girl's case will conduct regular check-in sessions with the foster family once she has been placed with them.

This is to ensure she transitions into foster care smoothly.

On April 3, the National Environment Agency (NEA) conducted routine checks and found that the teenager and her father, both Singapore permanent residents, had been living at the wet market stall for almost a year.

NEA reported the case to MSF's Child Protective Service, and the girl was taken under its care and admitted to a hospital for medical assessment.

The police and MacPherson MP Tin Pei Ling were also alerted.

Tin, who told ST she was shocked when she first heard about the case, posted an update on Facebook on May 3 that the girl was coping well in hospital.

Tin added the girl's father visits her regularly at the hospital.

Neighbouring stall owners previously told ST that the teenager, who barely spoke, would hardly leave the stall that measures 2.8 metres long and 2.2 metres wide, not even to use the toilet.

They added the girl merely gestures and waves, and they have not heard her speak.

The stall she lived in had foldable mattresses and soft toys in it and has been shut since the case was uncovered in April.

ALSO READ: Teen living in market stall: Tin Pei Ling says girl doing well, authorities considering foster home

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.