Residents of Weifang, Shandong Province, who find an abandoned child will be given priority to become the child's adoptive parents, according to a regulation effective this month.
Applicants can file for an adoption request within 15 days.
Meanwhile, the city is also expanding the list of welfare agencies to which abandoned child can be transferred.
In a bid to tackle the problem of private adoption, the Ministry of Civil Affairs ruled in 2008 that anyone who finds an abandoned child should first report their discovery to the police, who will transfer the child to an orphanage. Anyone who seeks to adopt a child will have to apply to the city-level administration.
Many people who find a child in rural areas still tend to raise them on their own.
Global Times - Agencies
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