S’pore mother undergoing confinement left to care for 4 kids after helper runs away

S’pore mother left to care for 4 kids after helper runs away

On 29 May, a woman in Singapore called the police after discovering that her Indonesian domestic helper had run away from home.

In doing so, she had left her female employer — who was undergoing confinement at the time — to care for her four kids by herself.

The helper had worked for her for a month and a half when she ran away.

Woman hires domestic helper to care for her young children

Speaking to Shin Min Daily News, 38-year-old Ms Ellie (name transliterated from Chinese) said that she decided to hire a domestic helper before giving birth to her fourth child.

The helper was meant to assist her with caring for her three young children aged six, three, and two — in addition to the newborn.

Ms Ellie then hired Dia (name transliterated from Chinese), a 27-year-old Indonesian helper, on 27 April through an Indonesian helper agency.

Ms. Ellie paid S$2,200 to the agency which was equivalent to four months of Dia’s salary.

When her new helper started work, however, Ms Ellie had found her unsatisfactory — ignoring instructions, and handling food without washing her hands.

Although she did not make a fuss as an employer, it was Dia who asked to change employers after a month.

Helper runs away without locking the door

On the evening of 28 May, Dia kept finding excuses to go out, which made Ms Ellie feel something was wrong.

At around 7am the next day, Ms Ellie discovered through the CCTV that Dia had left the house at around 5am with her wallet without locking the door.

At around 8am, Ms Ellie called the police and reported the incident.

“By around 11am, I received a call from the Ministry of Manpower, saying that Dia had approached them and told the authorities that she didn’t want to work at my house,” Ms Ellie said.

She shared that she had already informed Dia that she and her kids lived in a one-bedroom unit, and the helper would sleep on a mattress in the living room.

Ms Ellie also mentioned in advance that she had three children, aged six, three, and two, and a baby on the way.

Now that she is left without a helper, Ms Ellie has returned to doing the housework on her own.

She is also facing difficulty in retrieving the remaining fees which she had paid Dia.

As Dia had only worked for about one and half months, Ms Ellie is seeking to claim the leftover amount of S$1,375.

However, the agency told her to recover the money from the helper herself.

The police confirmed receiving the report and are investigating the incident.

Also read: S’pore helper runs away while taking out trash, agency investigating

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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News.