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Presenting Situation
Andrew is a five-year-old male who was rescued 1 month ago along with six other children ages 3-10 from an apartment residence in Makati, Manila. The rescue involved a joint entrapment operation by the PNP and NBI-AHTRAD at the residence of Mike Sander in Makati while he was streaming the abuse and offering photos for the price of $50 US dollars. Andrew and the 3 youngest children were placed in a private shelter outside of Manila.
Abuse History
The online sexual exploitation of Andrew began 6 months ago. Mike Sander visited Sagada Province and met Andrew’s mother, Mary Joy. Mike offered Mary Joy to take Andrew and give him a good life including access to education in private school in exchange for domestic duties. Andrew’s mother agreed to this arrangement and entrusted Mike Sander to care for Andrew. When Andrew arrived in Makati, he found himself in a crowded apartment with other children. The children were sleeping on the floor together. Since sending her son to Makati, Mary Joy reported she has not received any communication from Mike regarding Andrew.
According to reports from some of the older children, Mike would often wake up the children in the middle of the night to meet online with his ‘friends’. Some of the older children often participated in ‘shows’ in which they were required to touch their own and each other’s genitals in front of the camera.
Andrew has been groomed, he observed and watched what other children were doing in front of the camera for over four months. Two months ago, Mike asked Andrew to meet one of his ‘friends’ in the US. Over multiple meetings with this ‘friend’ Andrew was asked to talk to his friend and on the most recent occasion had been asked to remove his clothes and dance in front of the camera.
Family Background
Andrew is an only child with no siblings. His mother Mary-Joy was born and grew up in Baguio. Mary-Joy’s family were poor and had been unable to send her to school. When she was 18 years of age, she met a young man from the US who had promised to take her home with him to be his girlfriend. After spending two weeks with the man, he left town and returned to the US, with the promise that he would return and take Mary-Joy home with him. A month later, Mary-Joy discovered she was pregnant. When Mary-Joy informed her parents that she was pregnant, they kicked her out of the family home and refused to have contact with her. Mary-Joy had no other family contacts to turn to for support and as a result lived on the streets for the first few months of her pregnancy. Mary-Joy eventually found a job on a rice farm in Sagada and was able to rent out a small one-bedroom home with the earnings she received from her job.
When Mary-Joy gave birth to Andrew she carried him with her during the workday while he was still a baby. When Andrew grew older, she would leave him at home with the door locked to keep him safe. Mary-Joy attempted on multiple occasions to reconnect with family but none of these attempts had been successful. Andrew did not meet any other family members and spent most of his time playing alone inside his home or with the neighbors’ children. Andrew reported that he had never met his father and had never seen a photo or known the name of his father. Andrew understands that his skin is lighter than some of the other children in the area because his father had lighter skin.
Health & Safety
Andrew presented with no major health concerns and his BMI is normal, indicating he has been well nourished and is healthy. The home of Andrew’s mother, Mary Joy, is made of galvanized iron and concrete walls and is a small one-bedroom condo with 1 toilet and a small kitchen area. Mary joy does not own the apartment however has been renting for approximately 6 years and is able to continue this. Mary-Joy reported that there are no obvious hazards in the home and the community is very safe. The case manager reported the nearest public hospital is about 2 hours away from their house. Mary Joy has been buying gallons of drinking water in a nearby water refilling station, but does not have her own water connection.
School Functioning & Developmental History
Andrew was a generally submissive child who would follow instructions and routines without complaint. As an infant, Andrew was slightly delayed in meeting developmental goals. He did not start speaking until he was 2 and half years of age. Even now, he does not respond verbally when the shelter staff talk to him. Although Andrew does not communicate at a developmentally appropriate level, he is able to understand when spoken to in a child-friendly way. This is evident as he can successfully follow many different instructions by the shelter staff. It has been observed that Andrew’s use of language has started to increase when interacting with shelter workers. However, he remains shy and distant from the other children.
Andrew has not yet started attending school as he was expected to commence school when he moved to Manila to live with Mike Sanders. He has all the necessary documents (baptismal and birth certificate) to commence school. Andrew’s mother had a limited education and did not expose Andrew to books, writing or drawing. Andrew is unable to use a pencil and will often lose focus during educational activities in the shelter. He often stare’s out the window or at an object for a long period of time.
Behavioural Functioning
In the shelter, Andrew has been quite and isolates himself, preferred playing alone and not interacting with other children. He often sits in the corner staring in the window, looking at a particular object for a long period of time. He would freeze if he heard other children screaming, aggressive and loud voice. He avoided playing with the 3 children who had been rescued together with him. When the shelter staff tried to engage with him, he’s not responding and would just stare at the staff. He would eventually continue doing his activity as if incident had not occurred.
Over two months Andrew had developed an attachment to one of the female staff and would talk with her more than anyone else at the shelter. Andrew displayed a particular avoidance of males both his peers and male staff.
Placement Options
Mike was arrested and is now in jail while his legal case is being litigated. Andrew has been in the private shelter since the time of his rescue 2 months ago. During this time Andrew has slowly started communicating with shelter staff. Andrew’s mother has been located and she is living in Sagada. She has been informed of Andrew’s abuse and current placement in a shelter. Mary-Joy expressed significant remorse at finding out that Andrew was rescued and expressed a desire to take Andrew back and live with her.
Andrew’s social worker is aware that Mary-Joy’s financial and home situation has not changed since Andrew was separated from her. The social worker is aware that for Andrew to be returned to the care of his mother additional support is needed and should be in place to protect Andrew from the risk of being re-trafficked. The social worker is also aware that Mary-Joy has been manipulated on two separate occasions by US expatriates.
Mary Joy recommended to undergo a counselling and psychoeducation and livelihood support to prepare her in the reintegration of Andrew.
Alternatively, the local foster care agency has identified that there may be a possibility for Andrew to be placed with a foster family in Cebu. Due to his age and status as an only child he meets the eligibility requirements of the agency.
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