Relatives of children orphaned in the 921 earthquake have been fighting over who has guardianship of the orphans and is therefore eligible to receive relief payments or insurance compensation, the Child Welfare League Foundation (兒童福利聯盟文教基金會) said yesterday.
In addition to an estimated NT$14,000 per month in subsidies paid out by the government to families taking in the orphans, a financial aid program for orphans of the quake launched by Aetna Life Insurance Co. offers an additional NT$10,000 per child in subsidies.
"Many families have fought over guardianship, and some have already brought their cases to court," said Shih Ching-fang (施靜芳), chief of the foundation's family reconstruction center,.
Children who lost their parents in the earthquake are also beneficiaries of a government-issued relief payment worth millions of NT dollars. Since they have not reached adulthood, their legal guardians are entitled to receive the money on their behalf. However, the legal guardians are not necessarily the ones taking care of the children.
In view of this problem, the Civil Code was revised recently to empower the court to assign proper guardians for orphans and children whose parents are incapable of taking care of them.
The government has also encouraged the guardians to put the children's property in trust to safeguard their interests.
A recent survey, conducted by the foundation between Nov. 15 and Dec. 20, 1999 targeted the 167 children who had been registered for financial aid under the Aetna plan
The survey, released yesterday, showed that only 20 percent of the orphans have joined the trust management system, while 44 percent have not. The situation with the remaining 36 percent is unknown.
"If the money isn't managed by a trust, it may just be spent by the foster families in cases of financial difficulty. In that case, there wouldn't be much left when the children reach adulthood," said Joyce Feng (馮燕), executive director of the foundation
Feng said her foundation will continue to keep track of the orphans to ensure they are properly taken care of.
Meanwhile, Feng said the foundation is currently working with other charity groups to offer psychological support for the children.
Foundation officials said that, of the 167 children registered under the Aetna plan, successful evaluations were made on 145, consisting of 73 boys and 72 girls. Their ages ranged from six months to 21 years old, with 84 percent being under 18 years old.
The survey showed that all of them were being taken care of by relatives -- 27 percent by paternal uncles, 17 percent by paternal grand parents, 14 percent by paternal aunts and 12 percent by adult siblings.
In four cases, siblings had been split up and were living with different families.
Feng called such separation cruel and said her foundation is evaluating the psychological impact it might have on them.
"They have to face the pain of separation from their siblings almost immediately after they have lost their parents," Feng said.
Even if siblings lived under the same roof, foundation officials said that questions remained as to whether these foster families have the ability to take care of the children placed in their care.
In one case, for example, four orphans were being taken care of by one family that already had four young children of its own.
"It is a great challenge to raise eight children, both in term of care and education," Feng said.
Shih said that it is a common problem with most families in Taiwan that their houses are too small to provide space for additional children.
The foundation called for great concern be dedicated to quake orphan-related issues.
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