All must help vagrant children

BEIJING - Child rescue institutions can now apply to a court to deprive parents or other legal guardians of their custody rights if they allow their children to beg or steal on the street, according to an official document released by the State Council, China's Cabinet, on Thursday.

"This is real progress," said Ma Li, director of a rescue center for homeless children in Xuzhou, East China's Jiangsu province, who said verbal warnings and trying to educate the parents and guardians do not always work.

But although the policy is supported by the law - both the Law on the Protection of Minors and the Law on Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency stipulate that custody rights can be deprived in the above circumstances, Ma said it will not be easy to implement the policy, as the current welfare system is not established enough to care for children taken from their parents or guardians.