How many? Where do they come from? Why?
Though no one knows the exact numbers, there are many tens of thousands of girls and boys living in Chinese welfare institutions. They are newborns and toddlers, they are preschoolers, they are children with profound special needs, and they are older children. All will grow up with the legacy of having lost the love of their birth families.
All will grow up with the legacy of having lost the love of their birth families.
Ninety-five percent of the healthy children living in Chinese welfare institutions are little girls. The influx of healthy infant girls into social welfare institutions began in the 1980s when China introduced strict birth control policies in order to control its burgeoning population.
When the traditional, especially rural, Chinese family’s preference for boys collided with well-intentioned population controls, healthy girls were abandoned in heartbreakingly large numbers.
In recent years, the ‘floating population’ of migrant workers has meant an increase in the number of healthy boys, as well as girls, given up by their birth parents.
And rising health costs have contributed to a recent influx of children who have medical needs that impoverished families cannot meet.
“Whether these children were found at a few days old wrapped in a blanket on a busy bridge, or discovered at four or five, wandering alone with a few belongings near a police station, they now live in state-run institutions and await uncertain futures. The local authorities post their pictures, but no one comes forward.”
