Australian-run orphanage in Cambodia raided
Ruth Golder, the Australian founder of the 'Love in Action'
orphanage, denies allegations of child abuse and says she'll fight to
get 21 children back into her care.
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Authorities have raided an Australian-run orphanage in the
Cambodian capital Phnom Penh and taken away 21 children, some as young
as one.
Police and government officials had received reports of
beatings and neglect at the Love in Action orphanage founded by
71-year-old Australian Ruth Golder.
Mrs Golder, a former nurse who has worked with children in
Cambodia for 13 years, admitted to Fairfax Media after the raid the
orphanage was not registered with the Cambodian government, but denied
the allegations of abuse and neglect of the children.
Twenty-one children were taken away by authorities.
''I love the children with all my heart,'' she said, sobbing,
after the raid by 17 government officials accompanied by Cambodian
police and welfare staff from the anti-human trafficking and
exploitation organisation SISHA. ''I will fight to get them back.''
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The orphanage is supported by the Christian Outreach Centre,
which has churches throughout Australia. It receives most of its funding
from Australian donors and organisations.
The 21 children were taken away during the raid on Friday
that was witnessed by Fairfax Media. The whereabouts of seven other
children who were living at the orphanage is unknown.
Ruth Golder (centre) during the raid . Photo: Lindsay Murdoch
Government officials ignored Mrs Golder's pleas not to take
away a six-year-old boy she had named Isaac after he was brought to her
by his mother to care for when he was just 10 days old. She said she was
the boy's legal guardian. ''They didn't even tell me where Isaac was
going,'' she said.
The raid comes as the Cambodian government moves to tighten
control of up to 500 orphanages in the country that have been largely
unregulated for decades.
The number of orphanages in Cambodia has increased 65 per
cent since 2005 and 72 per cent of the children living in them still
have parents. More than half of the orphanages are unregistered.
The orphanage Love in Action in Phnom Penh. Photo: Lindsay Murdoch
SISHA boss Eric Meldrum, a former British police detective,
said the raid on Love in Action came after weeks of reported problems at
the orphanage, including the flight of five children who walked the
streets of Phnom Penh at night to reach a children's safe house.
''The children had reported abuses, which the police are
investigating … there was clearly things going wrong there,'' he said.
''This is a big step for the Cambodian government. It shows they are
serious about moving against orphanages that have done what they liked
without answering to anybody for years.''
Several other Australian-run or funded orphanages are under investigation by Cambodian officials, government sources said.
Mrs Golder, from Hamilton, Victoria, , said Cambodian
officials had visited the orphanage five days earlier and ''accused me
of human trafficking''.
She said she was shocked by the allegation. The visit prompted five of her staff to ''run away''.
Mrs Golder admitted she did not have all the required documentation for the children to stay with her.
''I needed a stamped [document] … I didn't know that,'' she
said. ''Some of these children had been scavenging in rubbish dumps
before I took them in.''
The decision to take the children away from Mrs Golder followed an investigation by SISHA and several government departments.
A statement by SISHA said: ''Investigators found that the
institution failed to meet minimum standards in several regards - the
food standards were sub-par, some children were visibly ill and not
taken to a doctor, the facility was dirty, sewerage was blocked and the
living quarters overcrowded.''
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