Shenzhen's relief center established a special branch Thursday
designed to house child vagrants and juvenile law-offenders and
separate them from adult vagrants, the Daily Sunshine
reported.
About 1,600 child vagrants, some of whom were caught stealing,
were sent to the relief center last year, which accommodates the
city's adult vagrants.
Some of the children were kidnapped and brought to Shenzhen, to
sell flowers in the street, beg for money and work as pick-pockets
at the railway station and parks, while others were from single or
broken families. They came to Shenzhen after their parents died or
divorced, said the head of the relief center.
Some children fled to Shenzhen because they had problems with
their parents, teachers or even friends, said the relief
center.
Most of the child vagrants had little awareness of the law and
some had committed theft and destroyed public facilities even after
they were in the relief center, the report said.
Some children in the center took their beds apart, or started
fighting with others to attract attention, said the center.
The situation would change after the establishment of the
special branch for children, said officials at the municipal civil
affairs bureau. The branch would take custody of the child vagrants
living in the center, until guardians were found and responsibility
could be transferred, officials said.
Child vagrants in the custody of the center would be given legal
education, as well as psychological assistance at the relief
center, which is compiling a series of textbooks for the
children.
(Shenzhen Daily January 10, 2005)
許愿