The Legal System Of Protecting Abandoned Babies In China

Abandoned babies are extremely vulnerable. They are abandoned in infancy, which severely threatens their security and violates many rights. Protecting abandoned babies’ rights has become an unavoidable social issue that involves with the factors of morality, law, economy and culture etc. The central topic of this thesis is on how to protect well abandoned babies by law. It consists of introduction, main body and conclusion, while the main body can be divided into four parts.The first part will introduce some basic facts, namely the definition of abandoned baby, the number of them and their characteristics. Abandoned baby is a conventional concept in our society for the miss of definite definition, and usually they are often treated as a part of orphans. As a result, it influences the identification of abandoned babies and their special rights and interests. There are a large number of abandoned babies, however, for the limitations of the subject and means of statistics, we still have no exact data. Abandoned babies have to suffer the absence of guardianship which is caused by abandonment, and are incapable of defending for themselves. Besides, they are in rights poverty caused by present circumstances.The second part is about causes of baby abandonment as well as the necessity of the protection of law. The traditional fertile idealism of the preference of boys instead of girls, combined with the application of family policy, are the main reasons of the abandonment of baby girls. The rising of the rate of sick and disable newborns and the stagnant children welfare system contribute to abandonment too. Unwed mothers also play a part in it. Meanwhile, citizens’ poor awareness of law and insufficient punishment to those who are responsible for abandonment make the situation worse. Baby abandonment issue is getting severe. It is urgent and necessary to protect abandoned babies for the sake of human rights protection and the maintenance of justice.The third part is going to analyze the formation of the laws in protecting abandoned babies and the methods of how to improve them. The practice of law in protecting abandoned babies can be dated back to the early of Qin dynasty, and since then, the following dynasties inherited them and went further. Nowadays, the legislatures have established more advanced laws, but they are remaining not good enough. On legislation, we are still in need of specialized regulations on children welfare to support this business. Those regulations are scattered and in general, so that they cannot properly handle with the settlement of abandoned babies and investigations on those who are responsible for abandonment. On law enforcement, the assignment of different departments’ task is not clear, and without efficient supervision, resulting that they cannot function well. On judiciary, the priority is how to appoint a proper agent for abandoned babies to look for legal relief based on their situation.The fourth part will focus on the application of “baby safe heaven”. It has exposed shortcomings during a short period of operation. It did not work well for lack of sufficient legal supports, without clear subjects and not explaining how to take responsibility. Besides, many people are concerned about whether it may trigger out baby abandonment again, and whether those who make such kind of choice are guilty by this way. No matter how, we cannot deny that it is a kind of creative exploration of protecting abandoned babies and it is worthy of trying.