Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor: Alex Cope, Agency: Asia Wire Report
These images show NGO volunteers rescuing two young girls found living in a “landfill-like” home with parents who compulsively hoarded the mounds of rubbish seen here.
The toddlers, aged two and one, were reportedly found sleeping on top of or among heaps of household refuse stretching from one corner of their sitting room to the other.
Picture Credit: AsiaWire
Pictures supplied by the not-for-profit Haiqing Youth Club of Pingtung County, which is in South Taiwan, show the desperate state of the couple’s home in Wandan Township.
According to the NGO, they were doing a site visit of underprivileged families last week when they came across the jobless couple and their two daughters living among waste and pests such as rats and cockroaches.
The county social affairs department was brought in for an assessment and signed off on over 30 volunteers who began cleaning the family home on 22nd August.
The job saw volunteers clear out enough bin bags to fill two lorries, with the refuse comprising mostly of empty takeaway boxes, plastic bags and drinks bottles.
The couple, who live off government subsidies, hoarded the waste and turned their home into a “landfill”, the not-for-profit said.
Social welfare officials said the couple’s actions did not constitute child abuse, adding that the family needed further assistance with raising their children, who the NGO says are experiencing development problems.
Officials are continuing to investigate the case and have placed full-time social workers with the couple instead of removing their children.
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