History and Development

Shelter, a registered welfare organization, has been in existence since 1981 to help abused, abandoned, neglected or at-risk children.

Shelter Home for Children started as a result of the vision of a group of seven friends who wanted to help the children in a squatter settlement along Old Klang Road. They initiated tuition classes so that the children could do better in their studies.

When the group found three homeless boys sleeping in the corridors of the State Cinema (now Lotus Restaurant, at New Town, Petaling Jaya) the group decided to rent a single storey bungalow in Section 12, Petaling Jaya. "All that we had was an empty house without any furniture. We sat, ate and slept on the floor. But, in the end, the boys stole some money and ran away!" said Mr James Nayagam, Executive Director of Shelter, one of the seven friends who started Shelter.

Not disheartened, the group of friends decided to bring one of the families from the settlement who had been evicted from their house, to stay in the house in Section 12. Most families in the settlement were living on rented premises but found it difficult to pay the rent.

As numbers in the home increased, we moved to our present premises at Jalan Tinggi, Petaling Jaya. Various groups helped by providing tuition and even fostered those in need of foster care placement.

In time, Shelter established 10 kindergartens in squatter settlements with the first one being in Damansara Dalam (1989). A nominal fee of RM5 was charged per student. These kindergartens were an effort in helping children from underprivileged homes to have a good start in life and we believe that this work made a positive difference in society. Shelter decided to close down the kindergartens after 15 years of operation when we noticed a dramatic drop in the number of children attending our kindergartens - urban affluence had also affected low income families in their perception and preferences for education for their children.

As Shelter evaluated the work, we decided to move into a more proactive approach in helping disadvantaged children by being a positive influence on teenagers.

We have also ventured into community youth work among juvenile delinquents in Kajang Prison. There are about 1,000 delinquents in Kajang Prison and Sg. Buloh Prison. We hope to educate, train and help the juveniles to regain their self-respect and integrity so that they can rejoin society at a later date. This is very gratifying work as it requires discipline, commitment and focus to run the social work programmes.

We have also embarked a youth community centre (DropZone). This is a centre for youths to hang out where the focus is on the personal development of youths through healthy and positive activities. The target group is 13 - 20 years old.

For the homes, we saw the need for helping teenagers who were beyond parental control. This led to the setting up of Shelter 2 (1987), Shelter 3 (1995), Shelter 4 (1996) and Shelter 5 (2001).

Our mission

• To rescue and protect children from the trauma of physical and sexual abuse, extreme neglect, being abandoned and being a victim or witness of domestic violence.
• To help the children overcome their initial trauma and restore self-acceptance, dignity and their trust in humanity by giving them unconditional love, care, and an education.
• To unite the children with their families where possible.
• To reinforce the above by regular follow-up so that they can become useful citizens.
  

Shelter's Mission Statement

"Giving children at risk a childhood and future by protecting, guiding, healing them, and by building loving families and strong communities".

The rationale behind the key words/terms used in our mission statement:

Our focus:
Children at risk - we primarily work among children and teenagers who are abused, abandoned, neglected or at risk.

Our goals:
Childhood and future - we strive to provide the quality and the enjoyment of life deserved by all children and to ensure a positive outlook for their future.

Protecting - we provide protection by being involved in rescuing and sheltering children from risky and dangerous environments/situations.

Guiding - we want to develop our children into well balanced, mature and positive members of society.

Healing - we hope to rehabilitate the children in our care from their past hurts and help them overcome the scars and trauma of the abuse and to ensure that their past experiences do not pose a burden and a threat to their future undertakings.

Beyond the homes:
Loving families and strong communities - we believe in acting proactively by developing social awareness programmes and community based projects and by being a credible voice advocating positive societal changes and better government policies.

Shelter's Organizational Chart

Click here to view the chart