A MENTALLY ill woman will be institutionalized and her baby girl may be put up for adoption after news reports of her plight in Buji Subdistrict.

    The 38-year-old woman, You Mei, will be sent back to her hometown in Anhui Province on Friday, while her sick 7-month-old daughter may be put up for adoption, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported Thursday.

    You, who had sex with different men for food, doesn’t know who her daughter’s father is. She has refused to give her daughter doctor-prescribed pneumonia medicine since Monday.

    The Buji Subdistrict Office’s director, surnamed Xu, said You and her daughter had been taken care of by social workers since Monday and their living expense were fully covered by the office.

    Because You has agreed to return home, the civil affairs bureau in Longgang District and the Buji Subdistrict Office have decided to send You and her daughter back to their hometown in Anhui Province on Friday by train, escorted by a government employee and a social worker.

    “I will go pick up You and her daughter after they arrive in Liu’an,” said Chen, an official from the civil affair bureau in You’s hometown. Chen said You will be sent to a mental hospital and her daughter will be temporarily taken care of by You’s sister before someone adopts the baby.

    Chen said that if You’s daughter is raised by a community welfare institution, the local government will provide a subsidy of 1,000 yuan (US$156) per month for the institution, and if she is adopted by a couple, the government will offer 600 yuan per month to her adoptive family.

    According to Chen, You has been married six times and gave birth to a boy 11 years ago. You’s parents, both older than 70, have lost their vision and can barely take care of themselves. You has three estranged sisters.

    “If we can’t find the right family to adopt the child, we will raise her temporarily,” said You’s eldest sister, who has two children and runs a small restaurant in Liu’an.

    You’s sister said she is relieved that most of her sister’s medical costs will by covered by health insurance. (Zhang Yang)