Orphans brutally abused get a flood of offers to help
Source: Xinhua |
July 5, 2012, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
VOLUNTEERS have rushed to help out at an orphanage in Cangnan County, in east China's Zhejiang Province, after a child abuse scandal was exposed there.
Days after photos taken at the orphanage showed children constrained with chains and ties, a group of doctors has also offered health check-ups for the youngsters.
The orphanage's director has been removed on suspicion of dereliction of duty, according to a press release issued by the county government in response to a case, which has sparked an uproar on the Internet.
Since last Friday, photos have circulated online showing a boy's foot shackled to a bench, and another tied to the bench with cloth around his neck.
The pictures, taken and posted online by a visitor, quickly stirred a storm of angry posts. Internet users described the photos as heartbreaking and a brutal breach of the organization's charitable purpose.
The furor prompted an investigation by local authorities, who said the nurses had used chains to confine the two boys, both of whom are six years old and mentally ill.
One of them is deaf-mute and has epilepsy while the other exhibits symptoms of schizophrenia with an inclination toward violence, according to nurses at the orphanage.
To prevent the boys from defecating everywhere and hurting other children, the nurses resorted to the constraints, they said.
Investigators found the institution was poorly managed and lacked personnel. The orphanage of 21 children, 19 of them physically or mentally disabled, was in the hands of only four elderly women who had received no training or care provision.
Experts said mismanagement is rampant in China's charities, such as orphanages and charitable nursing homes, after they were contracted or sold to businessmen or private organizations.
In 2010, a worker in an orphanage in Shenzhen was found to have used tape and clamps to force children to "shut up."
Officials said the orphanage in Cangnan was contracted to a local citizen. The government gave a monthly subsidy of 700 yuan (US$110) to the contractor for each child it took in. Management of the orphanage, including hiring nurses and spending on the children, was up to the contractor.
The county government has pledged to improve conditions and allocated nine care providers to the center. A thorough inspection, it said, was also under way in order to straighten out irregularities in charity institutions in the county.
But Zhong Qi, a researcher at Zhejiang Social Sciences Academy, said China now needs a systematic reflection on how it runs charities.
"After blaming the brutality of the caregivers and the contractor, we should not forget one important factor in this tragedy: the lack of supervision and the failure of the government to fulfil its role in the charity sector," according to Zhong.
Days after photos taken at the orphanage showed children constrained with chains and ties, a group of doctors has also offered health check-ups for the youngsters.
The orphanage's director has been removed on suspicion of dereliction of duty, according to a press release issued by the county government in response to a case, which has sparked an uproar on the Internet.
Since last Friday, photos have circulated online showing a boy's foot shackled to a bench, and another tied to the bench with cloth around his neck.
The pictures, taken and posted online by a visitor, quickly stirred a storm of angry posts. Internet users described the photos as heartbreaking and a brutal breach of the organization's charitable purpose.
The furor prompted an investigation by local authorities, who said the nurses had used chains to confine the two boys, both of whom are six years old and mentally ill.
One of them is deaf-mute and has epilepsy while the other exhibits symptoms of schizophrenia with an inclination toward violence, according to nurses at the orphanage.
To prevent the boys from defecating everywhere and hurting other children, the nurses resorted to the constraints, they said.
Investigators found the institution was poorly managed and lacked personnel. The orphanage of 21 children, 19 of them physically or mentally disabled, was in the hands of only four elderly women who had received no training or care provision.
Experts said mismanagement is rampant in China's charities, such as orphanages and charitable nursing homes, after they were contracted or sold to businessmen or private organizations.
In 2010, a worker in an orphanage in Shenzhen was found to have used tape and clamps to force children to "shut up."
Officials said the orphanage in Cangnan was contracted to a local citizen. The government gave a monthly subsidy of 700 yuan (US$110) to the contractor for each child it took in. Management of the orphanage, including hiring nurses and spending on the children, was up to the contractor.
The county government has pledged to improve conditions and allocated nine care providers to the center. A thorough inspection, it said, was also under way in order to straighten out irregularities in charity institutions in the county.
But Zhong Qi, a researcher at Zhejiang Social Sciences Academy, said China now needs a systematic reflection on how it runs charities.
"After blaming the brutality of the caregivers and the contractor, we should not forget one important factor in this tragedy: the lack of supervision and the failure of the government to fulfil its role in the charity sector," according to Zhong.
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