1.3 children abandoned in Taiwan every day: foundation
14 October 2010
| 1.3 children abandoned in Taiwan every day: foundation 2010/10/14 19:41:11 | ||
Citing statistics compiled by the Ministry of the Interior, the report said a total of 2,407 young children have been abandoned since 2005, meaning that an average of 481 children have been abandoned each year, or an average of 1.3 per day. A further analysis of the official data shows that 54 percent of the 202 children abandoned between August 2009 and July this year were less than 1 year old, 28 percent were aged between 1 and 2 years and only 9 percent were older than 3. Speaking at a news conference, CWLF Chief Executive Officer Wang Yu-min said the number of phone calls from people seeking to have their children adopted has also been on a steady rise since the foundation inaugurated adoption services in 1993. In the past five years, Wang said, the foundation has received 3,303 such phone calls, or an average of 1.8 phone calls a day. Analyzing adoption cases handled by the foundation over the past year, Wang said that 84.2 percent of them were not brought to the foundation by their birth parents and had been staying with either foster families, orphanages, relatives, caregivers, hospitals or other temporary shelters. Moreover, he went on, 33 percent of them had stayed at more than one institution and 9.3 percent had been placed in three or even more shelters. Only 43 percent could find adoptive families within one year and nearly 25 percent had to wait for two years to find adoptive families, Wang said, adding that some abandoned children still cannot find a family willing to adopt them even after waiting for five to six years. Wang said the time taken to locate suitable adoptive families is often related to three issues: vacillation by the birth parents, members of their biological families suffering from drug addiction or mental diseases, and children with special features such as disabilities, advanced years or of indigenous or foreign origin. Nearly 64 percent of children sheltered by the foundation are in the latter category, Wang said. Meanwhile, Wang said, the foundation has launched a fundraising campaign with the aim of establishing a NT$15 million (US$483,870) fund to care for abandoned children waiting for adoption. Popular actor Ethan Ruan attended the news conference to throw his support for the foundation's cause. Wang also urged birth parents and judges to prioritize the interests of children when considering whether to put their children up for adoption or making rulings on changes of guardians so that young children will not need to endure such long waits to find adoptive families. (By Chen Li-ting and Sofia Wu) ENDITEM/J |
