Wang Li, an official with the Mianyang civil affairs bureau who is in charge of adoption, said that two of the 325 earthquake orphans were adopted separately by families in Beijing and Guangzhou.

Less than 10 children were put in social welfare institutions because they were aged over 16 and a group of 65 were adopted by an organization in Shandong province.

More than 200 children were in the care of relatives, Wang said.

Chen Kefu, deputy director of the provincial civil affairs department, said that 12 out of 650 earthquake orphans in Sichuan had been adopted by new families.

Foreigners are not allowed to adopt earthquake orphans.

Wang said relatives were often unwilling to send the orphaned children away, particularly in Beichuan, where most of the inhabitants are of the Qiang ethnic minority group.

"Families tend to keep the children close to the tribe to prevent them losing the ethnic culture," Wang said.

"Most of these children are also unwilling to leave their hometowns," Zhang said.

Under current law, children older than 10 must give their permission to be adopted.

At the orphanage last week, Zhao said he would like to be able to move to a new home.

"It's definitely better for the children if they are adopted. They have better care and a better education," Wang said.

"Even if they're handicapped they still have the right to be adopted."

Zhang said the handicapped orphans did not have to worry about their food and clothes but they faced an uncertain future. "They have difficulty learning in regular classrooms in schools," she said. "If they continue staying here, they will only end up in social welfare institutes."

(China Daily April 29, 2009)