Only 1% of Sichuan earthquake orphans adopted

(Ecns.cn) -- Four years ago, the devastating Sichuan earthquake left 630 children parentless, yet only 12 of them have been legally adopted, Zhao Rupeng, deputy director of the Sichuan Civil Affairs Department was cited as saying by the Southern Weekly.

Few Chinese can forget the magnitude-8.0 earthquake that struck Southwest China's Sichuan Province on May 12, 2008, when areas such as Wenchuan, Qingchuan and Beichuan counties were heavily damaged.

Original statistics indicated that the disaster had led to 1,019 orphaned children. A year later, that number was updated to 630 after a complete investigation during which some parents were reunited with their lost children.

In the following two week period, over 20,000 people across the nation expressed their willingness to adopt the orphans by calling the hotline of the Sichuan Civil Affairs Department. Now, although hundreds of the orphaned children are still living in orphanages, nursing homes or with relatives, the number of people calling that hotline has fallen to zero.

Family, a taboo topic

On the morning of May 11, 2012, a group of orphaned children aged between 10 and 17 stood silently in front of the Beichuan Earthquake Memorial wearing white school uniforms. As they bowed and wept, one could easily see their grief over their parents' deaths, reported the Southern Weekly.

All of the children were born in Beichuan, but now live in "Ankang Jiayuan" (Homestead of Well-being), a special complex of new apartment buildings and schools for orphans and the children of needy families in Shuangliu County, Chengdu.

For a time, there were a total of 712 children living in the complex, which consists of two apartment buildings, a primary school and a middle school.

Currently there are still 575 children living there, and they enjoy a complete set of facilities and a nice environment. In addition to teachers, there are more than one hundred specially-trained tutors who take care of the kids and see to their everyday necessities.

But because nearly half of the children are quake orphans, "family" is a forbidden topic. Sometimes the teachers fear to even talk about their own family lives, as it is likely to have a psychological impact on the children.

Obstacles

At first, people regularly visited Ankang Jiayuan in search of their lost children, and some did succeed. Many of the orphans used to look forward to seeing someone they knew at the front door, revealed a tutor.

But over time the children began to realize that they had lost their parents forever, so they gradually adapted to the new environment and fell in love with their new "home."

In the meantime, society paid great attention to the quake survivors, and tens of thousands of families showed their love and willingness to adopt them.

According to Yang Ping, an official from a local civil affairs bureau, hundreds of people called their hotline, but the adoption impulse was mostly crushed after people heard that only sick and disabled children could be adopted.

In some extreme cases, people even forced their way into orphanages and offered to "buy" children. This frustrated Hu Yuanzhong, head of Ankang Jiayuan, so he eventually decided to refuse everyone who wanted to adopt.

The children's relatives might seem like a better choice, but they too have also sometimes behaved irrationally. For example, an orphaned child had two relatives, but in the end one took the other to court over who should adopt the child because the adopter would get 8,000 to 9,000 yuan (US$1,263 to US$1,421) a year in support from the government.

All these factors created serious obstacles for successful adoptions, and in the end only 12 of the children were adopted, two of them by foreigners.

More support needed

There is little doubt that the children will spend their adolescence at Ankang Jiayuan, where they will receive education until they graduate from the home's high school, noted the Southern Weekly.

The "Ankang Jiayuan" project, the first of its kind specially built for Sichuan quake survivors, was initiated by the Beijing-based China Children and Teenagers' Fund (CCTF) after the disaster left more than 87,000 people dead or missing.

With 18 years of experience as a member of China's SWAT team, Hu Yuanzhong has adopted a military management style at the orphanage, and after a comprehensive set of medical checks, experts from the No. 6 Hospital of Peking University said the children are more optimistic and open than the year when the earthquake occurred.

This proves that Hu's efforts have been worthwhile, but he is now worried about the future of the children after they leave the orphanage.

According to Hu, each quake orphan receives 600 yuan (US$94.7) a month from the government and the stipend will continue until they are 18 years old. However, Hu hopes the government will consider further support for them after they grow up.