Recent media reports on an 8-year-old girl forced to live in a pigsty in a village of a county in Sichuan province has exposed the legal vacuum in the protection of minors, says an article in Yangzi Evening News. Excerpts:

The girl, named Xiaozhong, has been living in a pigsty that belongs to her mentally challenged mother since she was an infant. The girl was born after her mother was raped by a stranger, and even at the age of 8 she weighs only 7 kilograms and cannot speak.

Facing public criticism after Xiaozhong's story became public, the county government defended itself saying it had been offering help to the girl and her mother; it claimed to have been giving them minimum living allowance and other subsidies.

The local government may have been helping the mother-girl duo, but its help was not enough to take care of a girl like Xiaozhong. Xiaozhong is an extreme case, and she is not the only girl (or boy) in China who needs immediate and constant help.

Despite not being orphans, many children like Xiaozhong need special care in China. According to data released by the children's welfare research center of Beijing Normal University, the number of children in China who lack proper support is 570,000 to 580,000, compared with 615,000 orphans. Since such children are not orphans, they cannot be sent to orphanages where they can get proper food and care.

The protection of minors is not only a household issue but also a government problem. When a child's parents lack the ability to support them, the government should take over the responsibility. Also, the government should take measures to plug the loopholes in legislation to protect minors so that children don't have to live in pigsties.