We has an interesting day on Wednesday with a visit from the local Police Force. I was not on site at the time but learned ,on my return ,that they had come in some numbers,both uniform and plain clothes. They had apparently received a phone call from somebody concerned about having seen young children going in and out of Stratton House.
Although our staff were mildly stressed by the incident, I have to say that I was impressed to hear how quickly the authorities responded in order to ensure the safety of the children. This is how it should be, and when in contact with the Officer in charge, later in the day, I made it clear that they are welcome to come at any time to ensure that the giving of care at Stratton House is properly up to standard.
The Officer has seen all paperwork and interviewed the staff and has expressed his satisfaction that all is in order.
It seems a little strange that this call was made as our presence and intentions have been widely known here for some time now and the Childrens Home sign, in both English and Thai language, has been up for many days; not to mention the Tambon ceremony on the weekend,when we again passed the word that we would like to encourage responsible local community members to visit our premises regularly and monitor what we are doing.
That said, it is a sad fact that there have been recent cases of serious problems in some homes in Chiang Mai and local people and authorties are understandably on their toes in this area.
This is another reason why, from the outset, it has been our wish to operate as openly as possible and to put in place, standards of working practise over and above the legal requirements.
