Orphanage blaze kids put into care
Source: Xinhua |
January 6, 2013, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
TEN children are being looked after by government services following a fire that killed seven people and destroyed an unregistered orphanage in north China's Henan Province on Friday.
The civil affairs bureau of Lankao County said the children had been living with a woman named Yuan Lihai, who is believed to have been operating the orphanage out of her home.
Bureau official Li Meijiao said two of the children are in the care of the child welfare agency of the city of Kaifeng, while the other eight have been given shelter at a county rescue center.
"The authorities are looking at other options to take care of the children as the rescue station is designed as a shelter for homeless adults. It lacks the facilities and services required to take care of children," said Li.
Li said there is no child welfare agency in Lankao County.
Yuan, a 48-year-old widow who has taken care of orphans and abandoned children since 1986, used money earned from working as a street vendor to provide for them.
Local civil affairs officials said Yuan and the children refused to be separated when civil affairs personnel asked Yuan to send them to government rescue shelters in 2011.
Officials said Yuan had 34 orphans and abandoned children living with her before the fire, including 16 with disabilities or congenital disease. A few of her charges were adults, including a 20-year-old man who perished in the blaze.
Yuan took the older children to school on Friday, leaving the younger ones and disabled children at home. The fire broke out in Yuan's home later that day, killing four people at the scene. Three children died shortly afterwards.
Another child is in intensive care at the No. 2 Hospital in Kaifeng, which administrates Lankao County.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
"The local government takes full responsibility on this issue because of poor and lax regulations," Wu Changsheng, deputy county head of Lankao told a press conference yesterday.
Yuan has no qualifications that would allow her to adopt under the law because she has her own offspring and due to her economic condition, said Wu.
As Yuan's actions were out of compassion, the local government let her unregistered adoptions take place, he added.
Lankao County government is now strengthening its regulations on unlawful adoption. The county said yesterday that it's first welfare center for children is expected to be built this year.
Critics said the government of Lankao County ignored the fact that the county with a population of nearly 800,000 has no official welfare home for children.
Although it is "very necessary" to have such a place for orphaned or abandoned children, Feng Jie, a county government official, reportedly acknowledged, "It is not one of the government's development priorities."
The backwater county is one of the poorest in China and relies on central government subsidies for its budget.
The civil affairs bureau of Lankao County said the children had been living with a woman named Yuan Lihai, who is believed to have been operating the orphanage out of her home.
Bureau official Li Meijiao said two of the children are in the care of the child welfare agency of the city of Kaifeng, while the other eight have been given shelter at a county rescue center.
"The authorities are looking at other options to take care of the children as the rescue station is designed as a shelter for homeless adults. It lacks the facilities and services required to take care of children," said Li.
Li said there is no child welfare agency in Lankao County.
Yuan, a 48-year-old widow who has taken care of orphans and abandoned children since 1986, used money earned from working as a street vendor to provide for them.
Local civil affairs officials said Yuan and the children refused to be separated when civil affairs personnel asked Yuan to send them to government rescue shelters in 2011.
Officials said Yuan had 34 orphans and abandoned children living with her before the fire, including 16 with disabilities or congenital disease. A few of her charges were adults, including a 20-year-old man who perished in the blaze.
Yuan took the older children to school on Friday, leaving the younger ones and disabled children at home. The fire broke out in Yuan's home later that day, killing four people at the scene. Three children died shortly afterwards.
Another child is in intensive care at the No. 2 Hospital in Kaifeng, which administrates Lankao County.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
"The local government takes full responsibility on this issue because of poor and lax regulations," Wu Changsheng, deputy county head of Lankao told a press conference yesterday.
Yuan has no qualifications that would allow her to adopt under the law because she has her own offspring and due to her economic condition, said Wu.
As Yuan's actions were out of compassion, the local government let her unregistered adoptions take place, he added.
Lankao County government is now strengthening its regulations on unlawful adoption. The county said yesterday that it's first welfare center for children is expected to be built this year.
Critics said the government of Lankao County ignored the fact that the county with a population of nearly 800,000 has no official welfare home for children.
Although it is "very necessary" to have such a place for orphaned or abandoned children, Feng Jie, a county government official, reportedly acknowledged, "It is not one of the government's development priorities."
The backwater county is one of the poorest in China and relies on central government subsidies for its budget.
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