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.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
RSS