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Left-behind children returning to the U.S. face great challenges

(CRI Online)    16:26, November 26, 2016

Among the 1,400 children in the William T. Sampson School, a public school in the United States, a vast majority come from China and 83% of them speak rural Chinese dialects at home. The Chinese children are "left behind" because they often grow up in China, away from their parents, until they reach school age. These children often face great challenges when coming from China to America to live in a new country with parents they barely know.

Families of the students in the William T. Sampson School in New York City are not rich. Every year, several hundred children come to the school from China. They are not only newcomers to the school and the country; many of them are even not familiar with their parents.

Mary Chu, the school's parent coordinator, explained that in many Chinese immigrant families in the U.S. have children that are sent back to China as babies to live with elder relatives such as grandparents. This is to enable their parents to live and work in the U.S. as hard as they can to make a living and save money. When the children grow old enough to attend school, they are sent back to America to live with their parents.

Patrick So, the school's social worker, said that such cases are quite common here. He mentioned that he recently asked a mother how many times she saw her child in the last six years, and the mother replied she had only been together with her child for a few months over the last half a year.

In order to make a closer connection between children and parents, the school provides music and art classes in which parents are allowed to accompany their children in order to try and form a closer bond with them. Patrick So also gives training courses to parents on how to talk with their own children.

Margaret Russo, the principal of the school, said that the school is a carefree place where parents and children can enjoy each other's company. "We hope the school can make closer relationship between parents and children," said Russo.

Chen Wenming, president of the parents' association at public school 160, said that when her son arrived back in America from China, he was in bad condition. She said she believes somehow her son came into contact with dangerous levels of lead, resulting in him having learning disabilities.

"I saw the dullness in his eyes, and I'll never let my daughter follow the same path." said Chen.

The school tries its best to encourage better connections between children and their parents. In August of this year, organized by Mary Chu, the school had a trip in China, hoping to learn more about the children's community. The trip provided teachers with a perspective on the experiences of the children.

"You don't know the language and you have to rely on others and figure things out." said Debra Fox, a fifth-grade teacher. "You have to experience it by yourself and it makes you realize how hard these little kids have it," she added.

(For the latest China news, Please follow People's Daily on Twitter and Facebook)(Web editor: Zhang Tianrui, Bianji)

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