Boy with cut-off hands recovering
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An 8-year-old boy from Henan province whose hands were cut off by his adoptive mother will undergo surgery to restore his hand function and agility.
In the wake of this case and another child abuse case in Zhejiang province, children's advocates are calling for a revision of China's laws to help protect defenseless children against abusing parents.
"I begged my mother to stop after she cut off one of my hands. I was crying and telling her that I need the other hand. But she didn't listen to me and even used scissors to cut the other hand," Chu Chu (a pseudonym given to the boy by his father) was quoted by the Beijing News as saying.
Chu Chu and his father arrived in Beijing Tuesday morning with the help of a non-governmental organization called Angel Mother, the Beijing News reported.
Orthopedic doctors at Jishuitan Hospital in Beijing's Xicheng district said later Tuesday that the nerves in the boy's hands are still growing after a surgery in his hometown seven months ago and some functions will probably be restored after a series of additional surgeries.
"Surgery will be done within two months and doctors are discussing how to do it for the boy's best benefit," Li Zhiyi, an employee of the NGO who is in charge of Chu Chu's case, told China Daily yesterday.
The cost will be covered by donations in China and from abroad, but Li said the NGO still needs more money to continue the treatment for him. The agency has helped more than 400 children from poor families since 2007.
The adoptive mother surnamed Guo cut off the boy's hands in the early morning of April 1 this year and threw them into the toilet. Chu Chu's grandfather retrieved the hands, and they were reconnected by local hospital staff later.
Chu Chu is a lively child, polite and well-mannered. But every time his mother is mentioned, he suddenly falls into silence.
Guo had been diagnosed with schizophrenia at two hospitals in Shangqiu, Henan province and Hefei, Anhui province. Local police said the incident happened when Guo went into a schizophrenic episode.
Another child abuse case occurred in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province recently and the parent seems to have mental illness as well.
Two siblings were beaten for three years by their father Yang Quansheng, reported by Guangzhou Daily. Yang jabbed his son with a knife in the back and foot and stuck pins in the bodies of his daughter and son. The siblings were once forbidden to have any food for three days.
Yang said he beat his children because they reacted too slowly and that he beats them because he loves them. He was taken to a mental hospital in Ningbo and was suspected of volitional control disorder, a mental disease that makes people lose behavioral control.
However, children's welfare homes receive only orphans and there is no shelter yet for abused children. It is impossible to deprive parents who abuse children of their guardianship under the current law as long as they are alive, said the police handling Yang's case.
Legal experts said the parents could only be charged with abusing family members according to the current Criminal Law, as the country does not have specific laws or regulations about child abuse.
