Chinese Couple Detained for Abandoning 2-year-old Daughter

May 06, 2016 05:38 PM EDT

Beijing Foster Home Cares For Orphaned Children

(Photo : Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) BEIJING, CHINA - APRIL 02: A young orphaned Chinese girl lays on a changing table at a foster care center on April 2, 2014 in Beijing, China. China's orphanages and foster homes used to be filled with healthy girls, reflecting the country's one-child policy and its preference for sons. Now the vast majority of orphans are sick or disabled. China says it has 576,000 orphans in its child welfare system though outside groups put the number at closer to a million. The parents who abandon them either cannot afford treatment or feel an inability to cope with raising a child who has special needs. In many cases an unwanted baby is never registered so the parents can skirt the one-child policy if they try for another.

A Chinese couple has been detained by police on account of abandoning their young daughter, reports say.

Police from Nanjing's Xuanwu district, in eastern China's Jiangsu province, have caught and detained the parents of a 2-year-old girl who was found walking alone in the streets, reports Guancha.cn. Police announced that the child was found through a post in their Weibo account Sunday night.

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According to the post, the young girl was brought by police to a nearby police station. Three days later, police were able to locate her parents, and through the use of DNA testing confirmed that they were indeed her father and mother.

The father, a man in his early 30s, said that they were willing to take her back into their custody, explaining that they, him and his wife, both regretted the decision to abandon the poor child. They said that they decided to leave her behind as it became difficult for them to raise a family of four children.

The girl is the youngest of four kids.

Police have arrested the couple after confirming their identity. The mother is currently out on bail, while the father is still under police custody. The young girl, on the other hand, is now under the care of a local welfare center.

Reckless Abandon

In another part of China, three young boys have been abandoned by their mother who suddenly disappeared without a warning nor a trace.

The three boys, a group of triplets aged four, were reportedly left by their mom named Han Xinghua, 27, last December. They are currently traveling around China to search for her. Of course, they are not without an adult companion in the form of their father, a man named Huang.

These young boys were last seen in Shenzhen, wearing matching uniforms while handing out missing persons flyers containing details regarding their mom. According to the flyers, their parents didn't fight before Han left, and that she took her daughter with her.

Although some were amused by their cheerful demeanor, pedestrians couldn't help but feel sad for the children.

China's criminal law states that those found guilty of abandoning their children will be sentenced to up to five years' time in jail, reports the South China Morning Post.

TagsNanjing, Xuanwu, Jiangsu province, abandon, Han Xinghua, Shenzhen