Experts check out stand-in parents

A group of experts is assessing and selecting suitable families to adopt children rescued by police from human traffickers. The children live in a social welfare home in Huizhou, Guangdong province, as the authorities have failed to find their biological parents.

According to Chen Su'e, director of Huizhou Children's Social Welfare Home, the sifting out of families is being conducted in an open, transparent and fair way.

"Wealthy families may not be selected as the best to adopt a child if their other conditions fail to meet the requirements," Chen said.

"In addition to wealth, the educational background of the parents, the per capita living space, healthy conditions, clean criminal record, attitudes of various family members and a family's good relations with neighbors will also be important factors," Chen said.

The expert group, which consists of deputies and members of the local people's congress and political consultative conference, civil affairs officials, media reporters and personnel from the children's social welfare home, was established because applicants for adoption greatly outnumber the children, she said.

When the welfare home publicly sought suitable families to adopt 11 children - six boys and five girls - earlier this year, more than 100 families registered, which means there is competition for each child.

"Some applicant families have even secretly given me a hongbao (red envelope) containing thousands of yuan, asking me to help them adopt a child, but I refused them," Chen said.

She said the children who are seeking adoptive parents are healthy and have been living at the home for more than two years.

"Though they have a life with enough food and clothing in the social welfare home, they lack paternal and motherly love as they grow up," she said. "I hope they can live in a harmonious family, though I am loath to part with them."

The children were sent to the home after local police cracked a major trafficking case in July 2012 that involved abduction and sale. The police rescued a total of 15 infants ranging in age from 10 days to 18 months.

Of the 15, four were returned to their parents after DNA tests, according to a police officer surnamed Yang.

The others were handled like children who are abandoned - sent to local social welfare homes. That's standard practice "when we think we have little chance of finding their parents," Yang said.

"We have done our best over more than two years, but we failed. Most of the children had changed hands several times by the time they were rescued, and we failed to find their parents through the DNA databank of the Ministry of Public Security," Yang said.

Li Xuewen, an official at Huizhou's civil affairs bureau, said that seeking adoptive families benefits three parties: the adopting family, the social welfare home and the children themselves.

"The government pays 1,200 yuan ($195) a month to support a child in a home," Li said. "It has spent large sums to support abandoned children in the city over the years."

According to Li, registered families still have to go through a series of procedures before they can formally adopt a child, even when they have been selected as suitable by the expert group.

"Before the families can officially adopt the children, they are required, first, to let the children live with them for a trial year. No maltreatment or violation of any laws or regulations may be reported during the year, or the family will be disqualified," Li said.

According to the amended regulation on foster family management released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs in September, which will take effect on Monday, foster families may not discriminate against or abuse a child or they will face harsh punishments, possibly even criminal penalties.

Compared with the current regulation issued in 2004, the new one sets stricter standards for the qualification of foster parents. It sets up a five-step assessment procedure and post-adoption training.

It emphasizes that children's welfare institutions should terminate the custodial rights of foster parents if the family is found to exploit a child to raise money.

According to the ministry, about 30,000 abandoned children live in foster homes nationwide.

Contact the writers at zhengcaixiong@chinadaily.com.cn and wangqian@chinadaily.com.cn