China has begun taking steps to deal with its increasing number of homeless children, an official announced at a national conference on protecting street children in Beijing Sunday.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs estimates that there are at least150,000 homeless children wandering the country's cities, most from underdeveloped rural areas, said Zhang Shifeng, deputy director of the ministry social welfare office, at the conference.

"Most of these children are suffering from inadequate daily necessities and have no chance to receive normal education, which leaves a life-long negative impact on their physical and psychological health. Some of them even become criminals," Zhang said.

Poverty and a breakdown in the family structure are the two major contributing causes of the country's rise in homeless children, said Dr. Christian Frederic Voumard, representative of the China Office of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

"Economic and social reform has indeed benefited many in China, but the human cost of such a rapid transformation has been increased pressure on individuals and families -- a growing migrant population, a higher divorce rate and a growing gap between poor and rich and between rural and urban residents and those in different regions -- all of these are pushing our children from their families to the streets," he said.

Dr. Voumard's words are borne out by the story of 11-year-old Wang Xiaohai.

Before being placed in a government-run protection center for street children in Guangzhou in the summer of 2004, the boy wandered for more than two years from city to city in the south.

Wang ran away from his abusive parents in 2002, the year the farming family moved to Xiamen, a coastal city in southeastern Fujian Province, from a poor village in southwestern Chongqing Municipality.

"They often beat me and I don't know why. Now I'm afraid of going back home and I don't think they have ever tried to find me," said the boy in a matter-of-fact way.

"The teachers in the center are really nice to me and I do not want to leave them," he said.

Before coming to the center, Wang slept outdoors with his friends and made a living by selling soda cans or polishing shoes.

"Wang's experience is a typical and heart-breaking example," said Masahiro Ono, project officer of UNICEF China Office.

"The tsunami that hit south and southeast Asia in last December left thousands of children homeless," Masahiro said. "Fortunately, they have received timely aid from the international society. But we should never forget that a 'soundless tsunami' -- violence, abuse, drugs and sexual exploitation -- is killing many street children too, including those from China. They have the need and also the right to get our immediate attention," he said.

Sending street children back home is the first choice of Chinese aid institutions. Those who can't find their homes or who are reluctant to go back home, are sent to child welfare houses, foster families or special protection centers where they receive special education and vocational training to help integrate them into society.

China opened its first pilot protection center for street children in 1995. By 2003, the Chinese government had spent more than 120 million yuan (14.46 million US dollars) to establish more than 130 special protection centers providing short-term protection and education for street kids in China's cities. They have helped more than 10,000 children, said Li Liguo, vice minister of the Civil Affairs.

The children are tutored at the centers, and those who do well on tests are sent to normal schools, Li said.

China has begun drafting its first special law on the protection of homeless children. A set of regulations on offering shelters and assistance to vagrants in cities took effect in the August of 2003. The regulations have specific stipulations on the responsibilities and measures government organs should take in helping street kids.

"We are glad to see that the Chinese government is working to help homeless children, issuing the special regulations on vagrants in 2003, which is really a milestone event in street children protection work in China," said Robert Wilkinson, deputy director-general of the Save the Children UK China Program.

China plans to build more protection institutions for street children while strengthening cooperation with some international organizations, such as UNICEF and Save the Children UK, said Zhang Shifeng.

"We still have many things to do, but we can't just wait for help. Action should start today," Zhang said.

Source: Xinhua