Around five years ago, I had a chat with a friend of mine who worked as a tour guide in the region of Yunnan, in China. He shared with me about some of the tour groups that he use to lead, and one of those groups were overseas travellers who came to China for the primary purpose of wanting to adopt an orphan. This fascinated me, as I had never thought about the plight of orphans in China.

A year after that conversation, I too had the privilege of visiting an orphanage housing blind and vision impaired orphans in China. The orphanage was called Bethel China, and was situated on the outskirts of Beijing. My visit to the orphanage impacted me greatly, in particular because I was born with a genetic eye condition too. And it was only because of my mum’s determination and sacrifices that I ended up with a future in Australia, and not in an orphanage in China.

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This post will look at some of the reasons why families in China abandon their children to become orphans. There are many countries throughout the world who struggle with the same problem of orphans just like China, but the reasons for each country are different. Some countries have a high number of orphans due to poverty, and lack of access to medical treatment. Whereas in China, although the economy has been developing at such a rapid pace over the past two decades, social services haven’t progressed at the same pace.

The factors contributing to abandoned children in China

In the early 1980s, China introduced the One-Child Policy.

A pervasive view among many traditional Chinese families is that having a boy is much more preferred than having a girl. This is particularly the case among poorer rural parts of China. As a result of these traditional values and the restrictions enforced on the entire population following the introduction of the One-Child Policy, baby girls were often abandoned right after birth. So when international adoptions began in the early 1990s, it was primarily to find families for healthy baby girls.

Over time, however, the dynamics of adoptions from China have changed.

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Now days, the majority of the children living in orphanages are children with special needs, with most of them waiting for families to choose them for adoption. Unlike in the past when girls were mostly available for adoption, currently there is around three times the number of boys than girls waiting in Chinese orphanages. Families typically wait for years to adopt girls, while boys are overlooked. (Statistics referenced from Bethel China)

In China, currently there are still very few services available to support families who give birth to a child with a special need.

Parents, particularly those in rural areas, are often concerned that they will not be able to pay for medical or educational expenses, and are led to believe their children would be unable to have a normal life. This is how my mum felt when I first received the news of my diagnosis. As a result, many of these parents choose to abandon their child because they feel helpless and under-resourced. Children who are found abandoned are sent to their local orphanages. After an initial search to find birth parents, they are given a name and an estimated date of birth, solidifying their status as an institutionalized child, an orphan.

Photo credit: Bethel China

I believe awareness about these social issues are important in helping us To know how we can contribute to making a difference. It is my deepest desire that Steemit would one day become a community that could contribute to making this world a better place for us all.

Thanks for reading.

Jimmy