Results of a recently conducted survey by On the Way to School, a non-government organization, revealed that there is a growing trend of rural-based children being left at home by parents. These are parents who have to go to urban centers for work. This trend is most prevalent in southwest China.
The founder of On the Way to School, Liu Xinyu, said, "The frequency of parents visiting or contacting their children is of the greatest importance for children's psychological health."
The founder explained that parents should make more effort in contacting their children, especially when both of them are working in another region. Liu stressed that parents should also contact their children more frequently.
The survey had 7,000 respondents spread across 14 provinces.
On the Way to School's survey showed that there are about 15 percent of children who did not have any physical contact with their parents for a year.
One child from southwest China claimed that she would make phone calls to her parents when she misses them, but most of the time she solves problems on her own.
The worsening plight of left-behind children is becoming an international concern. According to the International Journal of Social Welfare, the condition where children are left to their own means started when China first implemented its open door policy in the 1970s. This was the time when the country had massive industrialization and migration of workers from rural areas to urban centers.
There has also been numerous reports of abuse of Chinese children, thereby attracting media attention. Since then, many have questioned the impact of China's economic growth to Chinese families and their health.