Chinese boy, 7, with cerebral palsy abandoned at hospital by mother who said she could not cope any more
- Child was left at Nanjing hospital with note from mother saying she could no longer bear the stress of caring for her son
A seven-year-old boy with cerebral palsy was abandoned at a hospital in eastern China last week, with cash and a letter from his mother sewn into his coat.
In the unsigned letter, his mother said she had abandoned her son because she could no longer bear the financial and psychological stress of raising him.
Police officers in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province, found the boy, who was crying and unsteady on his feet, in the hospital on Wednesday, Jiangsu TV reported.
They said they noticed a piece of cloth sewn on the back of the boy’s coat, and found 1,000 yuan (US$150) after cutting it open. Another piece of cloth, sewn near a pocket, contained a letter.
“We are from a remote village and this kid was born with brain disorders,” his unnamed mother wrote in the letter. “Doctors diagnosed him with cerebral palsy.”
She said they had sought help from the local government, but no one appeared to care.
It was not clear where the family lived, but the note said the boy’s father was a migrant worker who had travelled far from home to seek work.
It continued that the family had debts they were unable to repay and the father did not return home for Lunar New Year to avoid his creditors.
The woman wrote that she had not slept well for the past two years and had recently been diagnosed with depression.
“On many occasions, I’ve thought of taking him to commit suicide together, but I couldn’t do that,” she wrote. “His eyes told me he didn’t know anything about this world.
“Today I am begging good-hearted people to help my boy by sending him to an orphanage.”
Surveillance video from the hospital showed a woman, wearing a mask, with the boy. After sitting with him for a while, she left through a back door, police said.
An officer told the TV station that if she did not contact the authorities soon she could be charged with the crime of abandonment.
