JOHOR BARU: A babysitter is looking for the parents of a five-year-old girl who has been under her care since the child was four months old, in order to adopt her.

       Koh Siew Moi, 55, who has three children of her own, said that a couple left the girl with her in 2016 as they were working at a restaurant in Bukit Indah.

       “My friend introduced me to the couple as they were looking for a babysitter. They told me that they would pay me between RM1,600 and RM2,000 a month. I agreed to it as all of my children have grown up,” she said at a press conference organised by Pasir Gudang Public Complaints chief Syed Othman Syed Abdullah here yesterday.

       Koh said the couple also handed her their child’s medical book and birth certificate during what would be their first, and last meeting.

       She added that when the child fell sick and she felt duty-bound to inform her parents they gave her many excuses.

       They had also stopped paying the monthly babysitting fee.

       One of the family: Koh (right) with Law and their charge whose parents they are looking for during a meeting at the Pasir Gudang Public Complaints office in Taman Sierra Perdana.

       Koh said she went to their workplace but the restaurant owner told her that the couple had not come to work for weeks and attempts to contact them through their mobile phones were fruitless as their numbers were no longer in service.

       Meanwhile, Koh’s eldest daughter Linda Law, 28, said that through the child’s birth certificate she was able to get the parents’ Kuala Lumpur home address.

       “I went there in 2018 to look for them but the home owner told me that they did not know of the couple.“When we reported it, the police officer suggested that we place the child at a welfare home.

       “But we do not have the heart to do so as we love her very much and treat her like a younger sister,” she said.

       Law added that her family wants to find the child’s parents so that they can legally adopt her, making it easier for them to send her to school and prepare her identification documents.

       Syed Othman said that he had organised a meeting between Koh, the National Registration Department and Welfare Department to address the issue.

       “One of the requirements of adoption under the Adoption Act 1952 is that if the biological parents were married, they are required to sign an agreement letter handing over the child’s welfare to Koh.

       “If the biological parents are not married, then only the biological mother’s signature is needed,” he said, adding that he hoped that the parents would come forward.