Chinese health officials suspended after refusing to investigate forced removal of couple’s baby
- The couple from a rural district in the Guangxi region had their seventh child taken away more than 30 years ago for ‘social adjustment’
- The refusal to look into the case and dismissal of their concerns the boy had been trafficked triggered a public outcry which triggered an investigation
Two health officials in southern China have been suspended for refusing to investigate the case of a baby who was taken away more than 30 years ago because his parents had breached the one-child policy by having seven children.
On Friday, the public health bureau in Quanzhou county, Guangxi, triggered a public outcry when they told parents Tang Yueying and Deng Zhensheng that their petition for an investigation would not be granted and dismissed their concerns that the boy had been trafficked.
“The child born in breach of the birth control policy, your seventh child, was taken away for social adjustment on behalf of the county and there was no child abduction and trafficking,” the bureau said in a statement to the parents.
“No records have been kept of the whereabouts of the excess children so the bureau will not handle your petition.”
The statement said that at the time the county had a policy that one child from a family that broke the rules would be taken away for “social adjustment”, meaning children could “legally” be given up for adoption to deal with the “severe family planning and birth control” situation.
According to the Xian-based newspaper Huashang Daily, the boy was born in August 1989 and forcibly taken away from Tang, now 69, when she was staying in a hostel about a year later.
