THE Central Government outlined a new ban Monday that bars unauthorized individuals and groups from running private shelters for orphans in China.

    “Adopting or handling abandoned infants at one’s own [free] will is forbidden,” seven government departments said in a joint statement, adding that any orphans found must be reported immediately to local residential committees or police.

    The ministries of justice and civil affairs as well as the National Health and Family Planning Commission and other entities released the statement.

    People who intend to adopt a child will have to do so through “official channels and meet all necessary requirements,” the departments said, urging police to make efforts to find the biological parents or other guardians of abandoned infants.

    If police fail to find an infant’s guardians, the child must be transferred to a government-licensed nursing home for temporary care. Those who use abandoned children for illegal or profitable ends will be “severely punished,” the departments added.

    A January fire that killed seven people, including six children, in an unregistered private orphanage in Lankao County, Henan Province, shocked the country.

    It was believed that Yuan Lihai, a noodle vendor, had operated the orphanage for years. Yuan, 48, had become a local celebrity after taking in about 100 abandoned children since the 1980s and was often interviewed by media.

    All of the surviving children have been transferred to government-run facilities.

    (SD-Agencies)