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Fran Lu

A Chinese couple who left their young children at a hotel following a fight have ignited a heated discussion over how to punish irresponsible parents.
The Beijing Chaoyang district police posted on January 22 that they received a phone call from a man who claimed to have been looking after his friends’ two children at a hotel.
The children, a seven-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl, had been abandoned by their parents after the couple had a fight during a family trip to Beijing.
Both parents reportedly considered looking after their children as a sign that they had lost the fight, so they ended up leaving the city without them.

Their friend called the police, saying he was forced to look after the children on their behalf and he could not get in touch with them.
The police found the children in the hotel room. Neither knew the whereabouts of their parents.
The officers took the children to a police station and tried to contact their parents.
They could not contact the mother and the father insisted that he had left Beijing and could not come.
At this point, the boy was still showing understanding to his parents, telling the police that his mother was “on the train and could not make it”.

An officer told them if their parents did not come, the police would take them home.
Eventually, the mother answered her phone and had to be persuaded to pick up her children the next day.
That evening, the police settled the children in their dormitory and prepared them Beijing delicacies.
When the mother arrived, the police told her: “If you decided to bring them into this world, you need to be responsible for them.”
As the case circulated on social media, people expressed shock about the parents’ irresponsibility and how they managed to escape legal punishment.
“They should be disqualified from being parents. There is zero responsibility,” said one online observer.
“However big the fight they had, they should have prioritised the safety of their children. They are not human,” said another.

“Does their behaviour not constitute the crime of abandonment? Why did they receive no legal punishment? The government should take the children away from them,” said a third person.
According to China’s criminal law, people who fail to fulfil their duty to support a minor or anyone else who cannot live independently can face a jail term of up to five years.
The case appears to be not punishable under the Anti-Domestic Violence Law that took effect in 2016.
This only limits domestic violence to “beating, trussing, injury, restraint and forcible limits on personal freedom, recurring verbal abuse, threats or other means”.
In recent years, the law has faced criticism over its narrow definition and lack of enforcement.


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Police forced to take youngsters into their care after mother and father fail to answer phone calls; anger online as parents get off with warning


Police forced to take youngsters into their care after mother and father fail to answer phone calls; anger online as parents get off with warning.


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Parenting: newborns to toddlers

China couple abandon their young children at hotel after dispute, spark heated debate

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Police forced to take youngsters into their care after mother and father fail to answer phone calls; anger online as parents get off with warning

Police forced to take youngsters into their care after mother and father fail to answer phone calls; anger online as parents get off with warning