Yvonne and her younger brother, Edson, missed school often as their parents struggled to take care of them. Both adults were unable to work. Their father, who was mentally unstable, was a patient at the Institute of Mental Health, while their mother was struck down with cancer. The family relied on support from different government agencies. The siblings also had no relatives to help take care of them, as the relatives were in Malaysia.
CITY stepped in to support the family financially, and staff would bring the two children to visit their mother when she was in hospice care. She died in 2017. CITY staff also often sent them home and bought them dinner as the father was sometimes unable to because of his condition. CITY stayed in close touch with him, to make sure that they attended school every day.
With CITY’s help, Yvonne and Edson are more settled now, and have been attending school daily. Social service agencies are now trying to convince the father to put his two children in a home, where they can get better quality of care.