7 year old girl chained up by her mother

After pictures of a 7 year old Myanmar girl chained went viral in social media, Phuket Social Development and Human Security officers visited the scene today (December 5), which is a room in an apartment in Phuket Town. The girl and her 9 year old brother are safe at Phuket Children and Family Shelter.

“We got the report last night about the case so we visited them this morning and received great cooperation from the neighbours who took us to the family accommodation. The 33 year old mother told us that she chained her up because she was busy taking care of another baby from her new husband which is only 1 month old and she was worried that the girl would be in danger as the girl likes to go out and walk in the street. The mother insisted that she never meant to harm her child,” says the Chief of Children and Family Shelter, Atchara Surakul.

“Regarding the marks on the body of the girl, the mother admitted that she really hit her and said her child was stubborn and didn’t listen to her. She said this made her stressed and so she says she hit her to give her a lesson.”

The Chief of Children and Family Shelter say that the mother doesn’t want any of her child to be away from home. However, she has 5 children. Four of them are from her ex-husband and the one month old baby is from her new husband. The kids initially lived in Myanmar. She brought them to Phuket 5 months ago. The oldest children are her 17 year old son, a 9 year old son and the 7 year old girl.

“We will take the 7 year old girl and her 9 year old brother to the shelter while explaining to the parents that they will have to change their methods of caring for her children. We will also look at other options involving other infant welfare departments,” she added.