China's Children

It's been over a week since an earthquake devastated China's Sichuan Province, leaving over seventy thousand dead, missing, or buried in the rubble.  More than forty thousand have lost their lives, but many parents have lost something they consider even more precious: their only children.

Mr. And Mrs. Wong* hold on to a few photographs, which are all they have left of their daughter, Wenchen.

Mrs. Wong says she "just wanted her to grow up safe, and school should have been the safest place."  For students in some of nearly seven thousand school rooms that collapsed, it was anything but.

Wenchen and over half of her more than four hundred classmates were some of the thousands of innocent victims.  Mr. Wong says all of the dead were only children. 

The one-child policy has prevented four hundred million births since it started in 1979. Wealthy families can afford the heavy fines of having more than one child. But most of the families hit hardest by the quake faithfully followed the policy, so they didn't just lose a child. They lost their only child.

Many parents who lived in the poor farming villages near the epicenter hoped that their children would have a better life than what they could provide.  When their children died, their dreams died with them. 

Mr. Wong says his daughter was one of the brightest students in her class, "she was the only hope in our family. Now that she's gone we've lost everything."

The Wongs say they can't bear to have another child, because it would be too painful, but thousands throughout China are ready to have more. They want to adopt the children who have been orphaned by the quake.  Of course, this process isn't as straightforward as it might appear. 

While some parents are ready to embrace new children with open arms, some parents worry that their children could be adopted prematurely.  China has a large population of migrant workers who have left their homes in some of Sichuan's small villages to work in the major cities. 

Since many migrant workers will leave their families behind to make more money in the cities, they have no idea whether their loved ones are safe or deceased.  Furthermore, about twelve million people will have to be relocated, which makes reuniting families an even more daunting task. 

The Chinese government has vowed not to allow adoptions unless there is absolute certainty that the child has no relatives.  To date, only 70 children are confirmed to have lost their parents and all surviving relatives, but with 70,000 dead, buried, or missing, this number is probably much higher. 

Thousands of children are in government shelters.  As you can see from the shelter in the video, some of days, like a birthday, which should be the happiest, are laced with sorrow.

Despite these hardships, there have been many inspiring stories of reunited families and a resilient China.  Millions throughout the country and worldwide have offered their condolences, and China will overcome this tragedy, to emerge a stronger, more hopeful nation.

*For more on the Wong's interview and story, see Stephanie Sy's package from ABC News