Amman – Hanan Khandakji, a brave Jordanian journalist, worked undercover for weeks to expose physical and verbal abuse at several private centers caring for handicapped children after being tipped-off by an angry social worker. Half way through her work, BBC Arabic got interested in using her initial findings and worked with her to produce a heart-breaking investigation that has left the nation in a state of shock since its was broadcast late on Monday. King Abdullah paid a surprise visit to several such homes and ordered the government to take swift action to protect the rights of handicapped children. And leading columnists condemned these abuses and called for more in-depth reporting to ensure accountability, transparency and good governance. Hanan is a full-time journalist at the Investigative Journalism Unit set up at Jordan’s independent Radio Station Al-Balad in 2011 with support from Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ), the region’s leading media support network promoting the culture of investigative journalism among editors, journalists and media university professors in nine Arab countries since 2006. Below are links to shorted version in English of the BBC Arabic report as well as a report published by The Jordan Times.