According to Missing and Exploited Children, about 800,000 children younger than 18 were reported missing (globally) in a one-year period of time studied resulting in an average of 2,185 children being reported missing each day.
China’s share of the number of abducted children was less than 10% of the global total. According to China’s Missing Children, it is estimated that 70,000 children go missing in China every year or an average of 192 a day.
These youngsters are often kidnapped and made to perform hard labor in illegal businesses, or sold into the sex trade. Traffickers also sell children to couples who are either unable to have children or who want male heirs, which is still the tradition in large parts of the country.
The Hunt for Missing Children reunites son with Chinese Parents two years after abduction. Technology was critical.
The China Daily reported on Cheng Ying that had a daughter abducted. After meeting other parents (that lost children) online last year, Cheng Zhu set up the “Parents of Lost Children League” and began to plan a month-long trip that would take his van through nine provinces, regularly stopping to not only hunt for his lost daughter but also to raise awareness of child trafficking.
The “Parents of Lost Children” is not the only organization like this in China.
“Baby Come Home” is an organization in China with about 20,000 volunteers that helps parents of missing children. Zhang Baoyan, director-general of Baby Come Home said, “People feel more comfortable with others who share the same experiences and they support each other. It is the collective power.”
Police in China are also learning how to deal with the growing crime of child abduction.
In 2009, Police in China solved 4,420 cases related to the trafficking of women and children as part of a special operation to crack down on the problem, according to the Ministry of Public Security. The mission resulted in almost 1,000 gangs being rounded up and 6,200 arrests.
With the help of a DNA database, which through a large investment has been developed into a nationwide network of laboratories, the police were able to correctly identify 298 of the 2,169 rescued children, according to figures released by the ministry.
Discover why Adoptions in China are Changing
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.
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