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When grandpas have to be daddies again

Hsiao Wen-chin, right, is awarded the Outstanding Fathers Award yesterday by the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families. PHOTO: TAIWAN FUND FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES.

A father's love need not be restricted to his own children, according to two grandfathers who happily raised their grandchildren.

With Father's Day coming tomorrow, the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families, a group that is dedicated to helping underprivileged children, has given Outstanding Father Awards to 10 fathers who raised their charges in very special circumstances.

Hsiao Wen-chin (蕭文進), 71, a grandfather of two, has been for all intents and purposes the father of his two young grandchildren since they were very little. His wife, who suffers from mental illness, also requires his constant attention.

"My son, the father of my granddaughters, has been imprisoned, and my daughter-in-law abandoned her responsibility to raise her own daughters. So I decided to take care of them myself," Hsiao said.

Five years ago, a social welfare organization learned of Hsiao's situation, paid home visits and provided financial support to his family.

Later, the organization referred the family to the fund, which helped each of Hsiao's two daughters find a sponsor to provide regular financial support.

"I also declared our household a low-income family in order to get financial assistance for my granddaughters," Hsiao said.

Hsiao said that due to his special family circumstances -- namely, that his grandchildren's parents were not available to raise the children -- the children were eligible for the financial support the government provides to families that include a single parent.

"I had to provide my son's divorce papers, as well as the document that stated that my son was serving his jail sentence and was unable to raise his children, in order to get governmental financial support," Hsiao said.

Taking care of two young children and a wife who is plagued by mental illness has never been an easy job.

"When the girls were little, I had to put up a special barrier to the entrance of their room, to prevent my wife from harming the children in the middle of the night," Hsiao said.

He insists upon a certain kind of upbringing for his grandchildren.

"We have been going to church for many years. Besides attending church service on Sundays, the girls are also involved with many other church activities," he said.

With the benefit of Hsiao's love for his grandchildren, the two girls have grown up to be very healthy and outgoing.

"I have always told my girls that when they grow up, they have to remember to give back to society and to the fund," Hsiao said.

Lai Sheng-chang (賴陞昌), a 79-year-old faithful Christian and grandfather of two, has also been moved by his personal faith to take up the sweet burden of raising children.

"In 1988, when my grandchildren were still very young, my son died in a car accident, and my daughter-in-law decided to remarry and leave the boys behind," Lai said.

At the time, Lai was already 63 years old, and his grandsons were only three and five.

"When my son passed away, it was by God's grace that I was able to raise my grandchildren on my own," Lai said.

Lai was born in China's Fujian Province in a destitute family. His own father passed away when he was only nine.

Lai was never properly educated and was thus looked down upon by the people he served with in the military.

During his service, Lai lost four fingers and a toe in a bombing. In 1948, he moved to Taiwan and retired from the army. However, due to his physical disability, he changed jobs frequently.

In 1955, Lai became a Christian and began to help out in a Christian hospital in Puli.

"When my grandsons were young, I used to work in factories in order to earn money. As my grandsons were sick a lot when they were young, there were times that I had to rush the two of them to the doctor's office in the middle of the night," Lai said.
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