A privately-run orphanage in Chiang Mai is under investigation for alleged child abuse and mistreatment by babysitters and employees of the facility.
Members of the management of the orphanage, run by a foundation and registered with the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, have been summoned to the provincial hall today to provide an explanation.
Speaking with Thai PBS reporters in Chiang Mai, on the condition of anonymity, a former babysitter at the orphanage claimed that the methods used to punish the children, aged from about three months to about 6 years, when they were found to have wet their pants or misbehaved, include forcing them to eat chopped chili, to smell ginger or Kaffir lime leaves, to sit in direct sunlight for a several hours, pinching, caning and more.
The babysitter claimed that, in some instances, a child who wet their pants was forced to hang a spittoon around their neck or was forced to kneel for hours while holding a plate of food as punishment.
She accused a female welfare official, aged in her 40s, who she described as the most powerful figure in the orphanage, as well as some babysitters, for carrying out the punishment of the children.
She said that it is quite common for young children to wet their pants, especially if babysitters do not change their diapers.
According to the babysitter, the children in the facility are divided into three age groups, from about three months to one year, one to three years and from three to six. Most of the children had been transferred from the Wiang Ping child care centre, under the supervision of the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security.
An official at the orphanage recalled seeing a child being forced to kneel on a hard floor. The child turned to her, calling “Mom”, which is commonly used by the children to call babysitters and officials there.
She said that, as she tried to respond to the child’s call, she was immediately reprimanded by the powerful welfare official and told to mind her own business and not to interfere, adding she did so because the woman is influential.
She suggested that the entire management of the orphanage should be removed, for their alleged lack of empathy and lack of regard for the welfare of the orphans there, adding that no more orphans should be sent there from the Wiang Ping child care centre.
She cited a case in January last year, when doctors at the Maharaj Chiang Mai Hospital diagnosed a child as suffering from a fungal infection on his tongue, suspected to have ben caused by exposure to very hot chili.
As a result of the incident, eight babysitters and officials were fired, but half of them were later re-hired, she claimed, adding that the conditions in the orphanage did not improve until this year, when police and public welfare officials stepped in to investigate.
