Hunt on for parents of infant left with maid
Print Edition
POLICE are searching for the parents of a 7-month-old boy who left the child with an ayi and have not been seen since December.
The couple employed the ayi, surnamed Mao, last October through an agency in Baoshan District. They offered to pay her 100 yuan (US$16.50) per day to take care of the then 3-month-old infant for a week at her home while they were out of town.
When the parents returned from the trip, they asked Mao to continue caring for the child as they were very busy. In November, the couple took the boy home, only to return him to Mao a few days later.
Mao last saw the father in December when he briefly visited the child but left without him.
Mao said she spent the next two months trying to locate the parents and on Monday reported the matter to the authorities.
As of yesterday, police had been unable to find the parents but had located the child’s 85-year-old grandfather, said an officer at the Sitang neighborhood police station, where Mao reported the incident.
A worker at the Yangbang Housekeeping Service Center, where Mao has registered, declined Shanghai Daily’s request for an interview, but said they had been in contact with Mao who wished not to be disturbed.
Mao told Youth Daily that she agreed to look after the baby because the pay was good and that she believed the couple cared about their son, but were just too busy to take care of him.
They sometimes sent her toys and milk powder to give to the child, she said.
Since last seeing the father in December, Mao said she made several attempts to contact the boy’s parents by phone, but never had any success. Though she was paid only until the end of December, she and her family have continued to care for the child, who is in good health condition, she said.
However, she is now considering sending the baby to a charitable organization, as his grandfather is too old to care for him.
Both parents are natives of Shanghai. The father is 30 years old and the mother 44. The marriage is the woman’s second and the infant her second child.
According to Wu Dong, a lawyer with the Shanghai Huiye Law Firm, it is too early to say if the parents deliberately abandoned the child.
“Abandonment is a serious crime, and no judgment can be made until the parents have been located and given a chance to explain,” Wu said.
There are no laws against leaving a child in the care of a housekeeper, he said.
Meanwhile, a couple stood trial in Yangpu District last month accused of child trafficking. Prosecutors said they sold their newborn daughter online for 50,000 yuan.
The couple already had two children and said they wanted to give the baby a better future.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
