Father finds lost 13-year-old son after boy’s obituary is published

(BOXUN translated) April 22, 2015 was a date that Mr. Wang Xinhong from Xinyang can never forget. He could hardly accept, upon seeing his son’s body at a funeral home, that his 13-year-old son Wang Zhiqiang was dead after he had been missing for half a year. His son, who weighed more than 99 pounds (90 jin. 1 jin = 1.10 lb.) when he was alive, now looked like a skinny mummy, with lots of injuries.

Wang Zhiqiang left home on October 2, 2014. Wang Xinhong reported him missing to the local police station and Henan Province, Shihe District Public Security Bureau.

According to the person in charge of the Xinyang Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau (XMCAB), the Laocheng Police Station sent Wang Zhiqiang to a rescue shelter on Oct. 3, 2014. After a preliminary screening, it was decided that the child had an intellectual disability and lacked the ability to communicate. He was unable to provide his name, age and home address. On the same day, the shelter then sent him to New Tianlun Senior Home for temporary care.

According to XMCAB, on March 31, 2015 the city’s relief station took Wang Zhiqiang to a hospital after he appeared emaciated and in poor mental condition with facial wounds from scratches. He was diagnosed with “malnutrition, anemia, acute gastritis, head and facial soft tissue bruises and contusion and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome” and other diseases. On April 18, Wang Zhiqiang went into a coma with blood pressure problems, decreased heart rate and slow reflexes. The hospital’s emergency treatment failed to rescue him. He finally died.

“Why didn’t the shelter announce it in newspapers when the rescue shelter got him in the first place?” Wang Xinhong asked. “Why didn’t they try to contact our family? He was so thin, and was injured. Was he mistreated? Was he starved to death?”

Li Ming, head of XMCAB, said that after taking in Wang Zhiqiang, his staff posted the information online at a nationwide list of vagrants and beggars, but did not issue a public notice in any newspaper, on TV or at any public place. However, pursuant to related procedures, an obituary was published in a newspaper after his death.

It is stipulated in the “Procedures on Rescuing and Assisting Vagrants and Beggars” issued by the Ministry of Civil Affairs that for those who cannot provide personal information because they are too old, too young or disabled, the rescue management must promptly report to the public security department for assistance in their identification and issue a proper notice to look for their family members within 24 hours after they are taken in by a shelter.

The reporter learned that Wang Zhiqiang had been assigned to live with two other children in a room at the New Tianlun Senior Center, where Wang Zhiqiang lived for six months. Cai Zhenghong, director of the Senior Center, said that Wang Zhiqiang was in good shape when he first arrived. He could eat, but his intellectual ability was not as good as normal people. He didn’t know where his home was or where his parents were. In about January 2015, he was sent to a hospital for treatment of a cold. His condition deteriorated upon his return. He couldn’t eat well.

“I only saw scratches from scratching itches on his face. No one mistreated him here,” said Cai Zhenghong. “We only take those who have been accepted by rescue shelters since we started cooperation with shelters. Our Center only accepts people who have been previously helped. The shelter pays us ¥800 living expense for each person every month.”

This is a private nursing home. Starting in 2012, it started cooperating with shelters and providing service paid by the government. So far they have resettled more than 100 people who have been rescued.

The reporter learned that in this case, there are gaps and dereliction of duty in management, which triggered the tragedy.

First, there were gaps in communication on the part of the public security departments. According to Wang Xinhong, he went to the Shihe public security office to report his missing son and his blood sample was collected. However, the Laocheng Police Station, only a few blocks away,  took the boy to a shelter. Why couldn’t the police station and the public security office share information about the child?

The reporter repeatedly contacted Xinyang City Public Security Bureau for an interview, but was turned down because “the case is under investigation.”

Secondly, in accordance with relevant state regulations, relief stations have the responsibility to “assist contact with family members.” But the shelter failed to do anything to help the child find his family.

The Xinyang city government has started a joint investigation led by the City Commission for Discipline Inspection, with the participation of other government departments such as the city’s procuratorate, public security bureau, and pubic health bureau. The Xinyang City Public Security Bureau has also set up a special-case group. An autopsy is being conducted on Wang Zhiqiang’s body.
http://www.bnn.co/news/gb/misc/2015/05/201505011919.shtml