Liu Lei has seen firsthand the challenges that face children whose parents have been put behind bars, and as a national lawmaker, she feels compelled to submit proposals to promote better care for the left-behind youngsters.

Left-behind rural children whose parents have migrated to the cities for jobs get a lot of attention, so Liu, the mother of a 16-month-old son, has put her backing behind a smaller group of children she said are no less deserving of protection.

As a deputy to the National People's Congress from Heilongjiang province, Liu, 32, wants to use her voice to advocate for the children of those in jail and prison, especially those who do not have any support from relatives or the opportunity to study.

Her proposal recommends the country extend the existing welfare system to these children. In her motion, she cited the work to protect such youngsters in the border regions of Heilongjiang province, where three policemen took care of one left-behind child with regular checks and paid the student's school expenses.

She submitted a motion to expand the model to more regions in China.

"As an NPC deputy, it's my duty to submit motions on the issues that need improvement, especially for such a vulnerable group," said Liu, adding that her husband, Liu Changfan, a policeman working in Jiamusi city of Heilongjiang has helped her to understand such issues.

The collaboration of the young national lawmaker and the local policeman on these issues has attracted more people to help those children.

Liu's husband has worked in the provincial border defense force for eight years, and has deep experience in resolving disputes. He has noticed an increase in campus violence and cases involved young students, and Liu also is interested in submitting a proposal to resolve these issues.

Liu's enthusiastic promotion for public security issues has been noticed nationally, and she was elected as a national model for police wives by the Ministry of Public Security.

Liu was elected as the deputy for the national legislature in 2008, when she was only 24 years old, forcing her to quickly mature, she said, "to think what I can do to serve the people".

She is also the only lawmaker who represents her Hezhe ethnic minority, which is only found in Heilongjiang province, "so I wear our special clothes to attend the grand meetings to promote our culture," she said.

zhengjinran@chinadaily.com.cn