Heilongjiang has launched a campaign to provide more care for “left-behind children” in rural areas, according to a Nov 16 meeting held on the issue.

The term “left-behind children” describes children whose parents leave for big cities far away from their homes, usually for work. Most of these children are taken care of by their grandparents, but some of them are forced to live on their own. These children sometimes feel lonely because they cannot live with parents as most of their peers do.

The township governments will report to the public security department on those left-behind children without guardians. Township governments not providing reports in time to the relevant departments will face sanctions.

For those children with nobody to look after them, the public security department is obligated to send them to nearby relatives or children’s welfare institutions, and make every effort to locate their parents.

School-age children should be in school in accordance with the law, and children’s parents will be urged to ensure their sons and daughters receive an education. Parents who do not do this will also face sanctions.

Meanwhile, schools must alert the relevant authorities on students not attending classes.

Files will also be created on rural children who have registered their hukou or permanent residence certificate. The public security department will also collect DNA information on children who have been adopted, and make a comparison with DNA data held on children who have been reported abducted or missing.

The campaign targeting left-behind children will commence this month and run until the end of 2017.