Shenzhen's relief center established a special branch Thursday designed to house child vagrants and juvenile law-offenders and separate them from adult vagrants, the Daily Sunshine reported.

About 1,600 child vagrants, some of whom were caught stealing, were sent to the relief center last year, which accommodates the city's adult vagrants.

Some of the children were kidnapped and brought to Shenzhen, to sell flowers in the street, beg for money and work as pick-pockets at the railway station and parks, while others were from single or broken families. They came to Shenzhen after their parents died or divorced, said the head of the relief center.

Some children fled to Shenzhen because they had problems with their parents, teachers or even friends, said the relief center.

Most of the child vagrants had little awareness of the law and some had committed theft and destroyed public facilities even after they were in the relief center, the report said.

Some children in the center took their beds apart, or started fighting with others to attract attention, said the center.

The situation would change after the establishment of the special branch for children, said officials at the municipal civil affairs bureau. The branch would take custody of the child vagrants living in the center, until guardians were found and responsibility could be transferred, officials said.

Child vagrants in the custody of the center would be given legal education, as well as psychological assistance at the relief center, which is compiling a series of textbooks for the children.

(Shenzhen Daily January 10, 2005)