While ever more people in Western countries are embracing the adoption of children, adoption in Taiwan is in decline. Child welfare advocates yesterday called on the public to pay more attention to abandoned children and to be supportive of families that choose to adopt.
"Traditionally, Taiwanese families view children as a means to carry on the family name. Therefore, adoptive parents in Taiwan are often people who suffer from infecundity, and adoption is still viewed as a shameful secret," said Abby Chen (
During a charity drive yesterday to assist abandoned kids and promote adoptions, the foundation, which has been dedicated to helping abandoned children find adoptive families for 14 years, tried to raise awareness of the issue of abandoned kids and adoption in Taiwan.
According to Chen, there are approximately 5,000 children a year abandoned in Taiwan. However, only about 10 percent of those children are lucky enough to find an adoptive family. The foundation takes in about 1,000 children a year. Only 100 children are able to find adopters in Taiwan per year. With the number of foreign workers climbing in Taiwan, the foundation has also seen an increase in the number of children abandoned by foreign parents.
"Handicapped children or kids with different ethnic backgrounds, such as Aborigines or children with Southeast Asian backgrounds are less likely to be adopted. We are forced to send these kids to find adoptive parents overseas," Chen said.
Unable to find enough adopters in Taiwan, the foundation has turned to Western countries, including Holland and the US, for help.
More and more Western countries are joining a quickly growing movement in the adoption world, changing the face of their countries as they take in children from Russia, China, India, Guatemala and other countries.
In Taiwan, however, many unwanted children stay in the custody of the foundation or in temporary foster care until they are seven or eight years old, and still cannot find adopters. If they fail to find adopting parents overseas, those children will eventually be sent to orphanages, the foundation said.
Taking her four-year-old son to the charity drive, a mother surnamed Chang said that although she was not familiar with the idea of adoption, she is willing to offer help to abandoned kids.
"I think the decline of adopting families may be due to financial concerns. I've never thought about adopting a child, since I already have a kid of my own, and it takes a lot of energy and money to raise just one child," she said.
Watching the performances during the charity drive from across the street, a single woman surnamed Luo agreed that financial concerns would be an important issue to consider if she decided to adopt a child one day.
"I think adoption is a good idea, and I may want to adopt a child if I stay single. However, if I get married one day, I would not consider the option unless I cannot have children of my own," she told the Taipei Times.
Chen said that besides taking care of abandoned children until they find adopters, the foundation is putting efforts to change the misperceptions of adoption.
"Adoption is about fully and completely loving and accepting someone not born to you as your own child. That's an important lesson in a world with so many orphans in need," she said.
The foundation is holding a charity drive, calling on the public to donate NT$500 per month for at least one year or NT$2,000 once to provide more financial aid to children who receive temporary foster care before finding adopters.
For more information on ways to donate, and other resources on adoption, please visit the foundation's official Web site at www.children.org.tw or call 02-2748-6006, ext. 1.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS