Hualien orphans' vouchers 'taken' by parents

A spokesperson from the nonprofit Buddhist organization Chan Guang Orphanage located in the eastern county's Hsincheng Township said that of the 66 children residing at the institution, over half were not able to claim their vouchers.

“This is most likely the work of their parents, who normally don't even care about their children,” said Hsu Shu-wan.

The father of one of the children, nicknamed “Hsiao-wei,” on Sunday made an appearance at the orphanage, said Hsu. Hsiao-wei's father is an alcoholic with an unstable income who rarely visits his son. Because he was too embarrassed to ask for the NT$3,600 voucher himself, he sent his son on his behalf, she recounts.

“We spent over an hour telling him that the money was to be used for Hsiao-wei and there was no way that he could part with it, after which he reluctantly left,” said Hsu.

“On Sunday, we were shocked to find that over 30 vouchers that rightfully belonged to our children were already claimed,” she said. “We tried contacting the parents but to no avail.”

A Hualien County social services representative, Chiu Yung-tai, said they would do their best in helping the orphanage locate the parents so that the vouchers may go to their rightful owners, but there was no way of re-issuing vouchers to the children.

Meanwhile, Chang Ling-ju, who heads the Kaohsiung Red Cross orphanage, said they gave NT$600 in vouchers to each child and placed the remaining NT$3,000 in individual savings accounts set up with the children's names.

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