RIYADH — Widad Charitable Society has opened eight new shelter homes for children of unknown parents, Al-Madina reported. Society Chairman Samir Bahry said the society cooperated with the Ministry of Labor and Social Development to open these shelter homes. “The children that are taken into these shelter homes are all under two years old. For any family that wishes to take these children in, they have to be able to breastfeed them. The shelters were opened in Jeddah, Riyadh, Madinah, the Eastern Province, Qassim, Jazan, Asir and Makkah,” said Bahry. He added the eight shelter homes are the first phase of the project. “The second phase will include opening more shelter homes in the rest of the Kingdom starting in 2018. The opened shelter homes have already received some children under two years old. The fostering family does not have to be from the same area of the child,” said Bahry. He added the society has a scanning process for the family applying to foster the children. “The society ensures that the families are socially, psychologically, financially, educationally and health-wise capable of fostering the child. The society also visits the family and interviews them. The society even interviews each of the parent alone,” said Bahry. He also said the society runs medical examinations on the fostering family to check that they do not have any drugs in their bodies or have any epidemical diseases. “All applicants will receive a reply of acceptance of rejection for foster care within six months of applying. The society is different from other orphan care organizations as it requires the fostering family to be able to breastfeed the child. If the fostering family cannot breastfeed then the organization seeks volunteering mothers who can breastfeed to extract the milk for the child,” said Bahry. — SG