Local govt asks to 'borrow' orphans for inspection

On Monday evening, Rongcheng district government apologized for trying to borrow orphans and announced that the director of its civil affairs bureau Lin Xiangbiao had been dismissed. The office director Huang Shenghui was suspended from duty for further investigation.

Additionally, the local government of Jieyang said the district has asked the funeral and interment services, the marriage registry and commercial users to move out of the welfare house.

The district plans to invest 3 million yuan in establishing a division for children within the facility.

Until then, temples will continue to be needed in looking after children.

The Buddhist abbot of Zifeng Temple, Shi Yaogai, has adopted 54 children. The temple is home to 31 orphans and the rest have been entrusted to nearby families.

Many of the orphans were born with physical disabilities and their ages range from several months to 30 years old.

Shi adopted the first abandoned baby in 1996 but the old man cannot remember how many children he has accepted, "Some children came and left; some came and later died."

Some children were abandoned by their parents, while others were sent to the temple by the local government and hospitals.

Officials with the government and hospitals said that the children would not stay in the temple for long, since the police station would help find families for adoption. However, the adoptive families never showed up, according to Shi.

A volunteer at the temple surnamed Luo said some people would even leave the children at the door at night even though they had been rejected by the abbot in the day.

For the past 12 years, abbot Shi refused to accept any government support or private donation.

Shi said what the children need the most is not money but constant care.

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