Children without birth certificates are banished to the fringes of Saudi society, unable to attend formal schools. But without documents, they cannot leave the country, either. (Iman Al-Dabbagh/The New York Times)

It was difficult to find the women, let alone broach such a delicate topic.

We’d been investigating a pattern of abuse of Kenyan women who had moved to Saudi Arabia to work as housekeepers and nannies. We’d become accustomed to accounts of stolen wages, rapes and beatings. Autopsy reports described burns, broken bones and mysterious falls.

But now, we were asking about something different. And we had to be cautious.

Vivian, working out of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, posted to a WhatsApp group for local mothers. The message was so unusual that she worried she might be kicked out of

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