英闻天下——580 Children Welfare System Needs to be Established

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　　Wang Xiao has the story.

 

　　Shi Tou is a seven month old boy. He was laid at the door of welfare center for children three months ago in Suzhou. He has beautiful eyes and smile, but the doctor diagnoses that he suffers from cerebral⁴ palsy. The caregiver Ding Jing says it's hard for him to make any body movement, so she has to give him rehabilitation⁵ trainings everyday.

 

　　"Without body practice, he'll have problems in speaking and walking, and lost the ability of living independence."

 

　　According to the Civil Affairs ministry⁶, most of the children living in welfare centers suffer from serious illnesses accompanied by mental or physical disability. The government takes care of the expenses covering the medical treatment and nursing care.

 

　　Chen Yongzhen, the head of Suzhou Social Welfare Center, says they try their best to make these children live in a normal family.

 

　　"Each year, more than ten children from our center can be adopted. Most of them go to foreign families. Most Chinese couples don't want them."

 

　　Professor Wang Zhenyao, the head of China Philanthropy Research Institute of Beijing Normal University, says that it's the lack of children welfare regulation that causes the misery⁷.

 

　　"China is among the few countries in the world that does not have a law to protect child welfare. An administrative⁸ branch in this regard is also lacking, as is professional staff. New York City alone has more than 10,000 staff and volunteers working in child welfare, more than the whole of China."

 

　　After a fatal orphanage blaze in Lankao, Henan province, that claimed seven lives including six children, the Ministry of Civil Affairs will establish prevention and intervention⁹ mechanism¹⁰ for children's various types of risks during growth, such as serious illness, disability or being abandoned.

 

　　It also vows¹¹ to strengthen supervision¹² and support for individuals and private institutions that look after orphans¹³ and abandoned children.

 

　　Wang Zhenyao, he's also a former senior civil affairs official, says NGOs have played a significant part where government fails.

 

　　"Children should be raised in families. They need individuality. The welfare center with hundreds of beds is just like a plant, which is so damaging to children. So the key now is for the government to reach out to these organizations and individuals like Yuan Lihai, solve their difficulties, provide subsidies¹⁴ and training, and set up the management criteria¹⁵. Don't take back the children from them, because children have feelings. It's just wrong to handle the problem without thinking."

 

　　The Ministry of Civil Affairs has urged its departments across the country to mobilize communities and villages to collect information on the conditions of non-government orphanages as part of the inspection campaign.

 

　　For CRI, I'm Wang Xiao.

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