Government assistance extended to more groups of unattended children

More than 253,000 de facto unattended children in China have received living stipends as of the end of last year, a civil affairs official said on Monday.

Each of these children, whose parents were absent and unable to take care of them for various reasons, received a monthly subsidy of 1,140 yuan ($176), said Ni Chunxia, deputy director of the Ministry of Civil Affairs' child welfare department.

This step was taken after 12 ministries and departments, including civil affairs, jointly released a notice on strengthening the protection of de facto unattended children, which came into effect in January last year, she said.

On that basis, some provinces and cities further developed their own policies and approaches to help these children, Ni added. Beijing and Chongqing, for example, brought the children into an education support plan to make sure they could continue to receive financial support from the local government even after they enter college.

Statistics from the national children welfare information system showed among the 253,000 de facto unattended children, about 45 percent lose one of the parents, and the other has severe disabilities or is missing.

About 27 percent of the children have a pair of severely disabled parents; and at least one parent of 8 percent of the children is in prison.

To make sure the government policies can cover more children who need care, Ni said the Ministry of Civil Affairs joined the ministries of public security and finance at the end of last year and issued a notice on further helping them.

In the notice, another two types of children were brought in to receive help and care from the government: Those whose parents were disqualified as guardians, and those whose parents were expelled or deported to other countries.