Besides the 64 child welfare agencies in counties, there are 9 such agencies funded by provincial-level governments and 333 by prefectural-level governments in the country. More than 800 social welfare institutions also have departments for children.
The official said that family foster care had been promoted in recent years as a better option than orphans growing up in child welfare agencies.
They added that China's child welfare networks remain imperfect, and that regulations need to be revised to lower overly stringent requirements for adoption. The government's database holding national information on reported and transported orphans also needs to be improved, according to the source.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs has urged its departments across the country to mobilize communities and villages to collect information on the conditions of non-government orphanages as part of the inspection campaign.
On Jan. 4, a fire at an unregistered orphanage run by Yuan Lihai in her home in Henan's Lankao County killed seven people.
Yuan, 48, had taken care of orphans and abandoned children since 1986, using money earned working as a street vendor.
How hard to adopt an abandoned child in China?
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