China is to double its number of centers for homeless children to 300 by 2010, according to an official with the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

A total of 152 centers have been built since a 1.12 billion yuan (US$164 million) program was launched in 2006, Saturday's China Daily reported.

By 2010, there will be 300 of them serving 150,000 homeless children a year in prefecture-level cities and large counties across the country, said Gao Yueling, head of the ministry's social affairs bureau.

Many of the centers will be built in the east of the country, as it attracts the most migrants from the country's poor regions, according to her.

"The centers are designed to get homeless children off the streets," Gao was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

They will ensure the youngsters aged up to 18 have a place to sleep and are regularly fed, she said. Children will also receive free education and vocational training in the centers to prepare them for adult life.

"The children are welcome to stay until they are reunited with their parents," she said. Women with children who have been abused by their husbands can also stay at the centers.

A national relief system aimed at helping vagrants, both adults and children, was set up in August 2003. Under the system, adult vagrants can apply for free board and lodging for up to 10 days at relief stations.

Local civil affairs bureaus, which oversee the stations, will help people to make contact with their families and will also pay for their bus or train ticket home.

Before the system was set up, homeless people were subject to the old system of "compulsory custody and repatriation", under which police had to jail vagrants and beggars, and send them back to their hometowns.

As of March of this year, the system had helped 588,500 street children nationwide, official figures showed.

"Most of them left home because of poverty, improper parenting, or because they were trafficked," she said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 13, 2008)