A different refuge for street kids
Gong Yidong | Saturday, 7 June 2008
When Chengcheng (9) bid farewell to the Baoji Street Children Relief and Protection Centre (BSCRPC) in February 2005, his guardians at the centre were sure of the orphan's readiness to face a new life. Chengcheng will go to a welfare institute in Baoji city.
Nobody at the centre knew where Chengcheng was originally from and who his parents were. He was found at a street corner in a city located in northwest China's Shaanxi Province in early 2001. Chengcheng was sent to the newly established BSCRPC, co-sponsored by the Baoji Civil Affairs Bureau and Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), an INGO committed to humanitarian emergency relief.
"I'm was reluctant to let him go, but we have to find a proper arrangement for the homeless boy," says Lu Xiaohua, a special educator at the centre. "Our centre can only serve as a temporary harbour for the children." Some children are sent home, while others prefer to stay on their own in the city.
In fact, says Lu, BSCRPC is designed more to prepare street kids to face different challenges in life instead of finding a home for them. The staff is confident that Chengcheng, after four years at the centre, will be able to adapt himself to any setting.
There are about 350 children at the centre. Located near Xian, Shaanxi' capital, the centre gets children mostly from the neighbouring Gansu, Xinjiang and Ningxia areas.
The centre is different from most of the 140 facilities available for street children across China, as it does not intend to set concrete goals for them, such as going back to their family, finding a trade or school for them. Says Dr Anita Wang, Field Coordinator with MSF. "We are committed to managing short-term crisis intervention for children in danger. To help them become more optimistic and face the challenges of life."
In many cases, sending the children back home doesn't necessarily resolve the problem: family poverty or rejection may drive the children away from home again, says Wang.
Take Mingming, 14, who was born to a young girl in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region during her affair with a married man. Mingming's father - who had seven children - did not want to keep him and he was sold to another family. Mingming was not happy here. One day Mingming ran away and started living at the railway station. He was picked up by the centre's staff from the station.
"Rejected by two families, where was the boy to go?" asks Wang. "Today, even if Mingming's own father agreed to bring him up and arranged for hukou (household residence registration), would he be able to stay for long with a family he does not identify with?"
The centre members try to teach children like Mingming how to protect themselves once they are out of the centre. "They should know where to go for help after leaving the centre," says Wang. For this purpose, MSF has recruited professionals from different backgrounds for the centre: two psychologists, eight special educators, two teachers, one nurse, six logistics personnel, plus three social workers.
Wang says every waif has a miserable story to tell, and most of them suffer from psychological trauma after being away from their family for so long. "I feel insecure and thirst for family life," sighs Feifei, 15, who has travelled across half of China after he lost contact with his father in Urumqi.
Therefore, says Francoise Oppenot, a psychoanalyst with MSF, a comprehensive programme covering physical, social and mental help is vital to their recovery. "In the first stage, we build up a sense of trust with the waifs by face-to-face talks and through group therapy," she says. "For the reticent children, I don't impose too many questions. They are asked to present their stories freely or simply draw a painting, which reflects their innermost feelings."
Oppenot says the most important is observation, "through which I can see if there is a deeply-rooted personality problem with the child behind the trauma, followed by a tailor-made discovery programme".
Apart from the psychological support to the children, Oppenot also organises workshops for the staff, normally twice a month, teaching them how to approach the children and get things moving.
Li Wei, a special educator at the centre, appreciates that MSF attaches importance to the children's psychological health and deals with each case as carefully as possible.
For Juanjuan, 14, who comes from a broken home, the centre is more than a temporary home. "Here I have learned to rely on myself," she says with a smile. Painting a five-coloured flower on a white sheet, she says her future will be "promising".
Quite a few civil affairs officials and law experts in Beijing share the MSF concept of community support to eliminate and curb suffering for street children. Feng Rui,
Professor of criminal law from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, points out that community intervention in protecting the children' rights is important. For those children who are unwilling to go back to their broken families, the community may take over the guardianship.
But in practice, there are still problems regarding protection of the street children by the law. For instance, the local government disapproves that the BSCRPC staff searches for street urchins throughout Baoji city and brings them to their centre. This, some officials say, is against the "voluntary" principle stipulated in the Measures on Aid and Management for Urban Vagrants and Beggars issued in 2003.
According to the regulation, wanderers should go and seek help at local salvation stations. But it does not specify how minor waifs should be handled. Wang Shuying of the Ministry of Civil Affairs agrees that adult and minor wanderers should be treated separately, as the latter group is more vulnerable.
Fortunately, says Feng, the National People's Congress is planning to consolidate legislation for the protection of minors. The Law on the Protection of Minors, put into effect in 1992, is undergoing revision. "The law, hopefully to be submitted to the National People's Congress for deliberation in 2006, will give priority to children's rights and interests in the light of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child," says Feng.
Nobody at the centre knew where Chengcheng was originally from and who his parents were. He was found at a street corner in a city located in northwest China's Shaanxi Province in early 2001. Chengcheng was sent to the newly established BSCRPC, co-sponsored by the Baoji Civil Affairs Bureau and Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), an INGO committed to humanitarian emergency relief.
"I'm was reluctant to let him go, but we have to find a proper arrangement for the homeless boy," says Lu Xiaohua, a special educator at the centre. "Our centre can only serve as a temporary harbour for the children." Some children are sent home, while others prefer to stay on their own in the city.
In fact, says Lu, BSCRPC is designed more to prepare street kids to face different challenges in life instead of finding a home for them. The staff is confident that Chengcheng, after four years at the centre, will be able to adapt himself to any setting.
There are about 350 children at the centre. Located near Xian, Shaanxi' capital, the centre gets children mostly from the neighbouring Gansu, Xinjiang and Ningxia areas.
The centre is different from most of the 140 facilities available for street children across China, as it does not intend to set concrete goals for them, such as going back to their family, finding a trade or school for them. Says Dr Anita Wang, Field Coordinator with MSF. "We are committed to managing short-term crisis intervention for children in danger. To help them become more optimistic and face the challenges of life."
In many cases, sending the children back home doesn't necessarily resolve the problem: family poverty or rejection may drive the children away from home again, says Wang.
Take Mingming, 14, who was born to a young girl in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region during her affair with a married man. Mingming's father - who had seven children - did not want to keep him and he was sold to another family. Mingming was not happy here. One day Mingming ran away and started living at the railway station. He was picked up by the centre's staff from the station.
"Rejected by two families, where was the boy to go?" asks Wang. "Today, even if Mingming's own father agreed to bring him up and arranged for hukou (household residence registration), would he be able to stay for long with a family he does not identify with?"
The centre members try to teach children like Mingming how to protect themselves once they are out of the centre. "They should know where to go for help after leaving the centre," says Wang. For this purpose, MSF has recruited professionals from different backgrounds for the centre: two psychologists, eight special educators, two teachers, one nurse, six logistics personnel, plus three social workers.
Wang says every waif has a miserable story to tell, and most of them suffer from psychological trauma after being away from their family for so long. "I feel insecure and thirst for family life," sighs Feifei, 15, who has travelled across half of China after he lost contact with his father in Urumqi.
Therefore, says Francoise Oppenot, a psychoanalyst with MSF, a comprehensive programme covering physical, social and mental help is vital to their recovery. "In the first stage, we build up a sense of trust with the waifs by face-to-face talks and through group therapy," she says. "For the reticent children, I don't impose too many questions. They are asked to present their stories freely or simply draw a painting, which reflects their innermost feelings."
Oppenot says the most important is observation, "through which I can see if there is a deeply-rooted personality problem with the child behind the trauma, followed by a tailor-made discovery programme".
Apart from the psychological support to the children, Oppenot also organises workshops for the staff, normally twice a month, teaching them how to approach the children and get things moving.
Li Wei, a special educator at the centre, appreciates that MSF attaches importance to the children's psychological health and deals with each case as carefully as possible.
For Juanjuan, 14, who comes from a broken home, the centre is more than a temporary home. "Here I have learned to rely on myself," she says with a smile. Painting a five-coloured flower on a white sheet, she says her future will be "promising".
Quite a few civil affairs officials and law experts in Beijing share the MSF concept of community support to eliminate and curb suffering for street children. Feng Rui,
Professor of criminal law from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, points out that community intervention in protecting the children' rights is important. For those children who are unwilling to go back to their broken families, the community may take over the guardianship.
But in practice, there are still problems regarding protection of the street children by the law. For instance, the local government disapproves that the BSCRPC staff searches for street urchins throughout Baoji city and brings them to their centre. This, some officials say, is against the "voluntary" principle stipulated in the Measures on Aid and Management for Urban Vagrants and Beggars issued in 2003.
According to the regulation, wanderers should go and seek help at local salvation stations. But it does not specify how minor waifs should be handled. Wang Shuying of the Ministry of Civil Affairs agrees that adult and minor wanderers should be treated separately, as the latter group is more vulnerable.
Fortunately, says Feng, the National People's Congress is planning to consolidate legislation for the protection of minors. The Law on the Protection of Minors, put into effect in 1992, is undergoing revision. "The law, hopefully to be submitted to the National People's Congress for deliberation in 2006, will give priority to children's rights and interests in the light of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child," says Feng.