The country is working on regulations to protect its estimated 1 million street kids.

The regulations, supplementing the 18-year-old Law on the Protection of Minors, are expected to give better relief and protection to street children, an official of the Ministry of Civil Affairs said yesterday.

"The ministry has drafted the regulations, but we are seeking expert advice before sending it to State Council for approval," Gao Yueling, head of the ministry's social affairs department, said.

Gao said private organizations and individuals will be encouraged to help these children and praised what had already been done since a regulation asked them in 2003 to offer assistance.

Civil authorities handled 10,000 to 15,000 cases involving minor vagrants and beggars annually from 2003 to 2007.

Centers for homeless children and other relief shelters handled 557,291 cases of homeless or begging children, Gao said.

Zhang Wenjuan, deputy director of the Beijing Juvenile Legal Aid and Research Center, hoped new regulations could divide responsibility between government and family.

"Some children sent home by government social workers choose to run away soon because of family violence, weariness from studies or failure to communicate with parents," she said.

The regulations should also tell social workers how to deal with the homeless children who refuse help, Zhang added.

"The centers for the homeless could not force them to accept help, but children are too young to make the right decision," she said.

Previous laws failed to specify who was responsible and how to handle the issue.

China has a total of 1 million street children, according to a 2006 national survey by the State Council Working Committee on Women and Children.

(China Daily April 9, 2009)