Take proper care of needy kids

Recent media reports on an 8-year-old girl forced to live in a pigsty in a village of a county in Sichuan province has exposed the legal vacuum in the protection of minors, says an article in Yangzi Evening News. Excerpts:

The girl, named Xiaozhong, has been living in a pigsty that belongs to her mentally challenged mother since she was an infant. The girl was born after her mother was raped by a stranger, and even at the age of 8 she weighs only 7 kilograms and cannot speak.

Facing public criticism after Xiaozhong's story became public, the county government defended itself saying it had been offering help to the girl and her mother; it claimed to have been giving them minimum living allowance and other subsidies.