How Could You? Hall of Shame-China-Phoebe case-Child DeathUPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From China,”The case of an 8-year-old Chinese girl who was reportedly abused by her foreign adoptive father has attracted widespread attention as she remains in critical condition on Thursday.

Phoebe, reportedly an orphaned girl who was beaten by a 50-year-old foreign man who adopted her, is currently being treated in the intensive care unit in a Beijing hospital after undergoing kidney surgery, The Legal Mirror reported on Thursday.

Doctors believe Phoebe’s condition was caused by external force.

During two previous kidney operations, Phoebe claimed she was beaten by her adoptive father.

She is one of 11 children the man had adopted since 2004. Most of them suffered from congenital diseases. The man reportedly helped seek medication for them.[How Does he adopt 11 kids?]

The jobless man claimed to have lived in China for 30 years and speaks fluent Chinese, The Legal Mirror quoted a foreign volunteer who goes by the pseudonym Xu Qiang, who has been in contact with the “family.” However, his identity is unconfirmed.

According to Xu, the man hired a Chinese nanny who sometimes cooked for the children, but most of them are skinny and may have suffered from malnutrition.

The 11 kids never went to school. They have taken some US family education courses at home provided by the man and can speak English.

The man had publicly scolded or beaten the kids, Xu said, adding that the volunteers had reported these alleged incidents to the police.

“We usually see a nanny taking care of the children but we have not seen the foreign man. They moved out a few days ago,” a staff member at the property management office in Shunyi district’s Capital Paradise community where they previously lived, told the Global Times.

He disappeared after Pheobe was taken to the hospital and could not be reached.

Both the public security bureau in Shunyi district and the affiliated hospital of Capital Institute of Pediatrics where Phoebe is reportedly staying declined to comment on the case when reached by the Global Times.

Observers said the case reflects the absence of a monitoring system of children’s rights which has made some orphans vulnerable to improper or unauthorized adoption.

“I believe it might be an unlawful adoption that the man had not gone through any legal procedure before he adopted the kids,” Zhang Wenjuan, the former deputy director of Beijing Children’s Legal Aid and Research Center, told the Global Times.

Foreigners need to apply to adoption agencies approved by both China and their home country if they want to adopt Chinese children, said Zhang.”

Foreign father tortures adopted girl: report[Global Times 12/4/14 by Catherine Wong]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

 

Update:”This is the third time that the girl has been admitted to the hospital. The first two times, she was brought in by her foster father, who’s been identified as Ray. She was last brought in by a volunteer on November 24 and Ray, along with his 10 other foster kids, could not reached afterwards.”

“The source said that Ray has been taking in orphans, many of whom are believed to have been abandoned by parents because of birth defects, and raising them since 2004. Ray has posted photos and stories of the kids online at www.rayschildren.org.[Ray Wigdal is the name on this site]

A witness quoted in a Beijinger report claims that Ray was rough with the children in public and was seen pushing them, twisting their ears and yelling at them. This article also said the children were sometimes spotted begging in front of a foreign supermarket in dirty clothing.

Xu said the kids were homeschooled and moved from home to home, often losing contact with former volunteers. He was last believed to be living in a two-bedroom apartment in Shunyi district’s Capital Paradise, but guards say he has since moved out.”

Foreign foster parent in Beijing accused of abusing 8-year-old adopted daughter[Shangaiist 12/5/14 by Katie Nelson]

Update 2:”Nine of the 10 children at the center of alleged cases of child abuse have been taken into protective custody by Chinese officials, an American expatriate source familiar with the situation and a report in Legal Dailyindicated Sunday.

The situation first came to light on Thursday, when reports surfaced that an eight-year-old girl, ethnically Chinese but speaking English and only basic Mandarin, was dropped off by a male foreigner at a Beijing hospital on November 21 for treatment. The foreigner has not returned, however that person may not be the man identified as American Ray Wigdal. His whereabouts are currently unknown.

On Friday, Wigdal arranged to move the children to a location near the Lido with the help of some volunteers, the source told the Beijinger. “The volunteers arranged to have three vans to transport the kids so they were safe. The volunteers picked up the kids and were planning to take them to breakfast somewhere in the Shunyi area, as the kids said they hadn’t eaten breakfast and were very hungry. The volunteers drove in a caravan back from Lido towards Shunyi area on the Airport Expressway and when they exited at the Beigao exit, authorities and child protection officials stopped the cars and instructed the volunteers to follow them with the kids to an approved child protection safe house,” the source said.

“When the volunteers arrived at the child protection center and entered with the kids it took a little time to get things organized and worked out as this is a very serious case involving 10 kids and the authorities were very sensitive and wanted to make sure things were done correctly.  The volunteers, child psychologist, social worker, and professional counselor were with the kids the entire time and the kids were safe and treated kindly and with great patience and compassion,” the source said.

In a story from Saturday night’s The Mirror, an elderly Chinese lady identified as “Granny Guo,” who claims to have been assisting Wigdal in taking care of the children offered a possible alibi. She told reporters that Widgal was in the US when the girl first was injured, and suggests her injuries were more likely the case of an injury from a bike accident worsened by roughhousing amongst the children. She did admit that Wigdal had struck the children before, which could explain why the girl told volunteers that her foster father had hit her.

Wigdal has adopted 10 Chinese children ranging in ages from three months to 17 years old, according toLegal Daily, although group photos of the children show none over the age of 12 or 13. Wigdal and the children once lived at Shunyi residence compound Capital Paradise. He was often spotted by area residents say the man was a frequent customer at the Pinnacle Plaza Starbucks nearby, where he would sip coffee while his children played in and around the store.

The children have said little, but have asked “Where is he,” referring apparently to Wigdal, and also allegedly said, “We do not like him, but we don’t want to be separated from our brothers and sisters,” according toLegal Daily.

It is unclear what legal action Wigdal may face. A key element is that he is not the legal adoptive parent of some or all of the children.”

Children in Alleged Abuse Case Taken into Protective Custody, American Foster Father Still Missing[The Beijinger 12/7/14 by Steven Schwankert]

“More information has been released on the case in which a foreign man and his 10 adopted Chinese children went missing, as initially reported by womenofchina.cn on December 7.

A woman by the name of Phoebe, who was suspected to have been abused by the foreign man, is still in critical condition at the Capital Institute of Pediatrics after undergoing a third surgery, for her bruised kidney and intestinal obstruction.

The missing adopted Chinese children have since been found: On the morning of December 6, four volunteers tracked down the van with which the children were about to be sent elsewhere. After safely removing them from the custody of the foreign man, the volunteers accompanied the children to the Beijing Rescue and Protection Center for Minors under the Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau, where the children were to be kept safe. The man, whom the children know as “Uncle Lei,” was suspected to have abused the children and was called in by the police for questioning at a Beijing police station on December 7.

On the evening of December 8, the Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau released news about the ten children, saying that the working staff of the protection center were trying to provide the best care possible to all the children by considering their ages and respective physical needs as well as their eating habits.

The bureau also indicated that the center had invited the volunteers who had previously taken care of the children to come to the center and help provide care for the children, in order to help ease their transition and help them adapt to their new situation. In addition, the center arranged for professional social workers to keep the children company, to help comfort them, and to provide psychological counseling.

The bureau added that it is good news that all the children have now gotten used to their life in the center and have been taking part in the physical activities arranged for them. Furthermore, they can now sleep through the night and have gotten used to the Chinese cuisine.

The center will be organizing physical examinations for the children and will help arrange the follow-up adoption paperwork for them, said the bureau.”

Children Involved in Abuse Case Receiving Attentive Care in Beijing[Women in China 12/9/14 by Tracy Zhu]

“An 8-year-old girl who was one of 11 children “adopted” by an foreign man accused of abusing them has died in a Beijing hospital.

The little girl, known as “Phoebe,” underwent surgery at the Capital Institute of Pediatrics in Beijing for a bowel obstruction and kidney damage last Tuesday, but died on Sunday night, reported the Legal Evening News.

She was one of 11 children said to be under the care of an American man.

According to an earlier report, Phoebe said that she had been injured by the man.

And volunteer helpers said they saw the man strike the “adopted” children.

He has been questioned by local police and the remaining 10 children sent to the juvenile aid and protection center, said yesterday’s report.

The center will carry out DNA tests on the children and see if any were abducted and trafficked.

The man is from the United States and is named “Lemoine” said a 76-year-old Chinese woman, surnamed Guo, who told the newspaper that she had been employed by him to look after the children for years.

It was reported earlier by the newspaper that the man had been raising 11 abandoned Chinese children with congenital diseases in the past decade without legally adopting them.

Volunteers said the man had threatened them to stop them going to the authorities, according to the newspaper.

They said that he posted photographs and stories of the children on websites outside China in order to raise money for medical treatment for their conditions”

Child in foreigner ‘adoption’ scandal dies[ECNS 12/9/14 by Qian Ruisha]

‘Contrasting views of Ray Wigdal, the foster father of an eight-year-old girl who died Sunday night and ten other children who are now in protective custody, have emerged, as his whereabouts remain unknown.

Early Chinese media reports on the situation indicated that Wigdal, a US citizen, may have been in China for as long as 30 years and speaks fluent Mandarin. One of the volunteers who assisted with caring for the 11 children whom he had adopted described him as being “nearly 60.”

Wigdal has little apparent social media activity online, but his Facebook page identifies him as having “Worked at God,” implying a religious calling, and having attended Cedarville University in Ohio, which describes itself as “an accredited, Christ-centered, Baptist university.” Several online church circulars refer to blessings to be sent to Wigdal, who was identified as a missionary in China.”

“Inquiries by the Beijinger indicate that Wigdal is a familiar face around Beijing’s expat communities centered in Lido and Shunyi, as he and the children spent much of their time in public places such as Pinnacle Plaza and the Lido Hotel. Residents of the downtown Qijayuan Diplomatic Compound say they were frequent visitors to the playgrounds and fields there as well.

Although few report a close relationship with the man, many have had casual encounters with him and the children. Reports have him alternately doting and harsh, while the kids are described in far-ranging terms from happy and playful to hungry and unkempt.”

“This much appears clear: Widgal for the past 10 years has been providing foster care to an increasingly large number of children, moving frequently and often staying in two-bedroom accommodations in Beijing.

Wigdal appears to have spent most of his time taking care of the children and did not have a regular job– news reports indicate that he relied on donations and charity to pay life expenses and corrective surgeries for the children. A number of Chinese and expatriate volunteers assisted him with their care.”

“One comment left on an earlier report in this story presented a picture of a caring father. “I met [Wigdal] a few years ago in Christmas Day at the Old Goose and Duck with all 13 of his foster kids. He brought them there for a Turkey Dinner and the guy did not consume any alcohol. He doted on the kids and taught them how to play Foosball, Shuffleboard, shoot pool and throw darts,” said thebeijinger.com commenter.

“From my recollection, he clearly cared for those kids. It’s inconceivable to me that he abused those kids in any way unless he lost his mind or something,” the commenter added. “Ray was devoted to those kids.”

However, many witnesses contacted by the Beijinger indicated that Wigdal was short-tempered with the children in public.

“I remember he was short with them, but man, a dozen kids – who wouldn’t be short?” said on expat parent. “I got the impression that his heart was in the right place but like many priests or nuns I’ve known, not the most patient … [What Widgal] was doing was tough work and not glamorous or fun at all.”

Another source added that the kids would often turn up at Jenny’s supermarket in Shunyi to ask for expired bread. “A few times when they had sold out all the bread, Ray got really mad and started yelling at the staff demanding they gave the children bread or something else,” said the source.”

“Widgal’s almost entirely text-free website rayschildren.org displays 10 years of images and portrays a father carring for his infant foster children. Group shots are numerous and the kids’ lives appear to be filled with trips to the Great Wall and other tourist attractions, as well as playing in familiar Beijing locations such as Pinnacle Plaza, the Lido, ISB and Qiajiayuan.

From the pictures one can see that birthdays were celebrated regularly with cakes and gifts and the children are pictured smiling and doing typical child activities like riding bikes and doing homework. At other times they are taking baths and undergoing medical checkups.”

“Many of the pictures show the children’s pre-surgical cleft palates and post-surgical care and feeding; Wigdal is often bedside at the hospital, bottle feeding the children, hugging or kissing them.

Numerous people who saw Wigdal and the children at the Pinnacle Plaza Starbucks reported that the kids looked well. “[They] didn’t look abused/malnourished/unkempt. Always doing homework etc. in Starbucks,” one of several Twitter posts read.”

“However, others say the children were frequently begging and seemed to cower in the face of their guardian.

One person who claims to have seen the children at Pinnacle Plaza nearly every day says the kids’ situation had worsened over the past year.

The last the witness saw them, in September, she asked the children where Widgal was. “They were terrified to speak; and the older boy kept telling them in Mandarin to stop answering my questions and was clearly nervous.””

“The source said that many in the community shared similar concerns about the children, as they were seen asking for food or money around Pinnacle Plaza. Several of the kids inexplicably claimed to be students at a nearby international school, which the source could verify was not true (previous news reports indicate the students were all home schooled and had received no formal education beyond that).

Some who have had encounters with the children suspect that Wigdal had ceased to be able to offer adequate care to the children as his flock of foster children grew beyond his means.

“This is probably a ‘good guy gone bad; something happened along the way,” says one witness. “Deep inside I hope he a the nice guy looking after 10 children out of love and compassion.” However, seeing the condition of the children was enough to compell her to contact authorities about the case”

“Some or all of the 11 children were brought to Wigdal over the years from origins unknown. Media reports quoting volunteers said the children had all been abandoned at birth, presumably due to birth defects.

It remains unclear whether Wigdal legally adopted any of the children. Earlier news reports say an Chinese elderly volunteer, identified as “Granny Guo,” 76, helped Wigdal take care of his foster kids and had told reporters that she was unaware of Wigdal processing any proper paperwork to formally foster or adopt the children.

Another report added that since most of the children Wigdal had been caring for were abandoned, they lacked any legal Chinese documents such as birth certificates or IDs that would be necessary for proper registration. Without this paperwork, adoption of the children by a foreigner through legal channels would prove even more difficult than the already rigorous procedure.

Authorities now caring for the children are attempting to establish their identities via DNA testing.

In the meantime, the whereabouts of Wigdal remain unclear. He did not visit Phoebe in the hospital during her stay from late November until her death over the weekend, though volunteers say he had sent money to the hospital to help pay for her care, and other Chinese reports say that the he has been in touch with the police and with volunteers that helped him care for the children.

The Beijinger is following up on several leads in the hope of hearing from Wigdal to get his side of the story; if anyone has contact with him please have him contact us at info@thebeijinger.com. All correspondence will be kept confidental.”

Who Is Ray Wigdal? Contrasting Views Emerge of Missing American Foster Father[The Beijinger 12/9/14 by Steven Schwankert]

Update 3:” CCTV-13 aired a telephone conversation with American foster caregiver Ray Wigdal last night on the News 1+1 program that implied he is currently in the US caring for an elderly father.

The conversation was part of a larger news piece on the case of Wigdal and his 11 foster children, and in the segment Ray speaks only in Mandarin.

Some of the revelations in the 21-minute news segment include one of the elderly women involved in the children’s care stating that Wigdal was not in fact the children’s sole full-time caregiver but rather one of many volunteers that took care of the kids, with his role being primarily as their teacher, taking them out to play, and finding the connections necessary to get the childrens’ surgeries arranged via charities.

Additionally, reporters indicate that the body of the foster child that passed away December 7 remains at the hospital due to a bureaucratic snarl in that child had no proper identification. The cause of death remains unclear as the hospital has not issued an official autopsy report.

Meanwhile, pictures appeared on Wigdal’s website today that appear to show him at the girl’s bedside while she was in the hospital some time in September, which contradicts some Chinese news reports indicating that he had not visited the child.

We have translated the portions of Ray’s words here from the original Mandarin:

On how he treated the children:
Wigdal: All you need to do is ask the children, I never bullied them. I’ve been a school principal in the past, so I know how to teach children obedience, how to study and to quiet down – but I never hit them. I love the children so much, I could never beat them or hit them or bully them, let alone torture them. To suggest that is just going way too far. I love the children and I think the children can testify to that.

On his role in raising the children:
Wigdal: The children do not have a hukou, and of course these are not my natural children by birth, I am just a volunteer, I just help pay for their upbringing, teach them English, take them to play, or organize medical treatment, and I’ve been doing this for the past ten years. Sometimes I spent my own money on them, sometimes friends helped out. Whatever the cost we always found a way to get these kids the surgeries they need.

On why he and the kids moved so often, which some Chinese news reports have said implied that he was running from something:
Wigdal: Neighbors who saw so many kids, it’s not that they complained they were too noisy – I think they’re actually pretty quiet – but they just couldn’t take accept the idea of living next to so many children, and would complain to the landlord. So many times we have been asked to leave the apartments we lived in – no one wants to move so many times, but we found ourselves having to find new places to live three or four times every half year.

On his relationship to the children:
Wigdal: I am Uncle Ray. “Uncle Ray” in English is not like the Chinese lei shushu. “Uncle Ray” is more like saying your real uncle, and in English we don’t use that term so casually. I always told the children that I was part of their family, I am your uncle. But I would always tell them I hoped in the future they will one day have their own mothers and fathers. This is why I always very carefully used the term “uncle”. This way if one day the children are in fact adopted, they’ll have their own mom and dad and I will remain an uncle. The children would ask me sometimes, “Uncle Ray, are you my dad?” and I would reply “no”. But remember, none of these children have mothers or fathers – so we’ve told them that we [myself and the ayis who helped take care of them] are your family.

On his future relationship to the children:
Wigdal: I hope to have an opportunity to see them, to support them, to encourage them. After all, you can ask them, I think they love me and I love them, and we all consider ourselves family. But I understand, I haven’t been doing nothing for the past thirty years, I know there’s no real chance that I could actually adopt these children … but if I can help friends to take care of them, I will be very happy to do so.

On his status as “missing”:
Wigdal: I never thought this situation would get so messy. I hate to see these articles that say I have disappeared – I’m very easy to find, in fact the police found me right away. My father is 85 years old and I’ve [come back to the US] to take care of him, but I want to return to China, hopefully before Spring Festival. If customs does not allow me back, what can I say? I don’t feel I’ve violated any laws or done anything bad. I can understand why there has been some misunderstandings. I understand a lot of the regulations and situations, including China’s hukou system, and I’ve spent a considerable amount of effort with orphanages and friends in China’s civil affairs bureau, and I know this sort of paperwork is not easy to process.

On how he came to be taking care of orphans:
Wigdal: In the 90s I worked in an orphanage in another country to do some charity work and I wanted to see if I was able to take care of children and help them get medical treatment. This is how this started. People called me when they saw there was an abandoned orphan at the train station no one is taking care of. All of the children were brought to me by elderly people who told me that they had no one to take care on them. All of them were abandoned due to cleft lip or cleft palate.

On his qualifications for taking care of children:
Wigdal: I’ve been a principal in a school in Alaska, so I am quite capable from an education standpoint. As to who spends the most money, who takes care of the kids the most, we’re all working together.

—

In other portions of the newscast, reporters talked to experts about what is next for the ten other children, who range in age from several months to 17 years old.

Tong Lihua, Director of Beijing Children’s Legal Aid and Research Center, was quoted as saying: “Generally speaking there are three steps to have the children resettled. The first step is to have them sent to a temporary protection center [where they are now]. However, local children protection centers can only provide temporary shelter.

“The second step is, if we can’t find any of the children’s parents, relatives or legal guardians, the children should be sent to state-sponsored children welfare agencies, In legal terms, the state now takes custody of the children, and this can be a long term settlement.

“The third step is that the children welfare agency will look for adoptive parents for the kids after they are sent there.””

Ray Speaks: CCTV 13 Airs Phone Interview with “Missing” American Foster Parent[The Beijinger 12/10/14 by Michael Wester]

Update 4:”After a flurry of stories hit the Chinese media two weeks ago about a “missing” American man raising 11 orphans in Beijing (and the subsequent death of one of them), one thing was absent: a response from the man himself. Last Friday, we were able to arrange a face-to-face interview with the person at the center of this drama, Ray Wigdal.

Over the course of two three-hour meetings last weekend in Beijing, we did our best to gather Wigdal’s side of the story.

Inconsistencies in the story remain; in particular some accounts we’ve read in the Chinese news and coming from additional unnamed sources remain contradictory.

Nevertheless, we wanted to give Wigdal the opportunity to answer the accusations that have whipped the Chinese media into a frenzy, with reports referring to him as “torturing” the children and references to the kids he had been caring for the past 11 years as “starving.” This has resulted in the children being removed from his care and placed in protective custody.

There’s no doubt that Wigdal is a polarizing figure: six sources reached by the Beijinger have characterized him on one hand as selfless and heroic in his passion for rescuing orphan children; others have painted him as a misguided rebel with a short temper deliberately working outside normal channels, without the capacity to give the children proper care.

Below we present a profile of the man based on our conversations with him.

—

Despite press reports to the contrary, Ray Wigdal is not missing – nor has he left Beijing, nor is he in hiding. The 56-year-old American that has called Beijing his home away from home for the past 30 years is right here.

In fact, for most of the past 10 days, he has spent his time talking to the police about his unusual situation, between doing what he can to assure the children are OK and keeping his mind off the situation by continuing to engage in his hobbies such as playing pickup basketball and watching Green Bay Packers NFL games.

“As far as this disappearance thing, I’ve never been out of sight,” Wigdal said at a Starbucks in the Lido area over the weekend, one week after one of the children he cared for, eight-year-old Phoebe, died in a Beijing hospital.

Since her death, Wigdal has been in almost constant contact with officials who have questioned him extensively about his situation and Phoebe’s death. His Chinese-speaking basketball teammates even chuckled about the news reports. Those playing with him joked, “Hey Ray, aren’t you supposed to be missing?”

Wigdal said the allegations against him are “trumped up” and he notes that Chinese officials have not told him he has done anything wrong, other than not possessing proper documentation for the children. Nevertheless, the children are in custody at a child protection center and he has not been allowed to visit them there.
THE BACKGROUND

Widgal, who grew up in Wisconsin but considers his home to be Alaska now, traces his interest in helping needy children to experiences when he was young.

He recalls his grandmother caring for mentally challenged children, and he also had disadvantaged friends as a consequence of his father’s occupation.

“My dad was a chef and a counselor at a juvenile detention center – the children there were either abused, or they had committed a crime,” he recalls. “I spent my youth growing up there and met a lot of children – they were down and out, but they were just like normal kids.

“I was not a down-and-out kid and we did everything as a family like camping and fishing, so it was so sad to see these kids didn’t have that.“

After attending two years of university in Wisconsin, he left school and landed a high-wage job as a production supervisor at an engine manufacturing plant. At age 20 he found himself making good money, driving a nice car, and managing people twice his age – but he wasn’t happy. One of his friends at the plant told him one day, “You know what? You don’t know Jesus.”

He wanted nothing to do with what he called “Jesus freaks,” but his friend managed to convince him to attend a weekend retreat for Christian businessmen. He showed up in a three-piece suit, only to find the attendees were casually dressed and had no intention of talking business. He felt conned.

Nevertheless he stayed and played Frisbee and basketball with some of the people there and found them to be “regular guys.” But it was that evening that his life was changed: the personal testimony of a 96-year-old man who was alcoholic and broke by age 66 before being saved by religion.

When Wigdal returned to work, he felt changed, as the days went on, he realized that simply earning a living was not his calling. He wanted to do something more meaningful. It wasn’t about going to church or reading the Bible: he wanted to be a force for good in the world.

He declined an offer from his company to pay for business school and instead enrolled at a Christian college at his own expense to get a degree in Bible Studies. At one point he spent a semester abroad in Jerusalem, where he picked up Hebrew quickly and realized he had a knack for foreign languages.

After finishing school, he moved to Alaska, lured by high-wage jobs, doing everything from working as a fisherman, to road construction crews, and later as the superintendent of a small school. He was putting money away, but still seeking his mission in life. “I wanted to do something as a good Christian and also as an American,” he recalled.
THE CHINA CONNECTION

After researching many countries, he honed in on China. Most Americans knew nothing about China at the time, and he contacted an organization that could get foreign students permission to study in Beijing, still a rarity in the mid-’80s.

In 1985 he enrolled in Beijing Language and Culture University (known then as Beijing Language Institute), where he was a quick learner. He would continue to return to Alaska in the summers, where he would make enough money on seasonal high-wage jobs to pay for his living expenses as a student in China.

This became a pattern that he has sustained for nearly 30 years – spending his summers working in Alaska and returning to China for the rest of the year.

For the first six years he concentrated all of his time on learning the language. In the ’90s he continued making much of his income in the summers, while regularly traveling the world and returning to Beijing and finding occasional work doing everything from business consulting to translation to coaching tennis.
HELPING THE DISADVANTAGED

All along Widgal continued to think about how he could make a difference in the world. At that time he was deeply moved by numerous news reports he was reading about female infants that were abandoned by their parents, primarily because they wanted sons and only had one chance under China’s one-child policy.

Reading a book published in the mid-’90s on high mortality rates in Chinese orphanages was enough to push him into action: he decided his mission was to find a way to help Chinese orphans outside the mainstream system, where he felt children had little chance of survival, let alone leading a normal life.

“From a spiritual standpoint, everybody is born as an orphan,” Wigdal says, while pointing out that the New Testament refers to orphans throughout.

Via the connections he had built during his years in China, he began to spread the word that if someone knew of a baby that has been abandoned, he would figure out a way to get medical treatment for them.
THE FIRST CHILD

As a result, a child was delivered to him, in 2002.

The infant, who he named Elizabeth, was found with severe birth defects, lying in a shoe box. However, by the time the child was delivered to him, there was not much Wigdal or the doctors he consulted could do – the infant died ten days later, which devastated him. Wigdal wondered then if he was cut out for this mission. “I was concerned whether I could go through this emotionally,” he said.

The second child he took in was a mentally challenged six-year-old boy who had been surviving as a beggar and rummaging through trash at a train station. Wigdal named him Blaza, a Romanization of the nickname that stuck from his days as a beggar.

From then on, his network of contacts would let him know when an infant was found and he would arrange to take care of it in Beijing. Wigdal would arrange for surgeries for the children, and as word spread about the success he had in getting them treated, it made it more likely that another child would be found.

Over the course of the next 11 years, 17 children passed through his hands, all of them born with birth defects such as cleft palate, spina bifida, heart defects or scoliosis, and all in need of immediate medical treatment.

Six of the children died either before, during or after operations to fix their problems, Wigdal said.

Though each was a devastating loss, he feels that none of children would have made it if he hadn’t taken them in.

“They would not be alive if I didn’t do this,” he said, referring to his research that indicated that the vast majority of orphans with birth defects died before adoption.

However, he does not consider himself a savior. “I am not the giver of life or death. I am no more responsible for their lives than I am for their deaths,” he said.
ROLE AS CAREGIVER

Contrary to reports that imply that Wigdal is the children’s full-time foster father, Widgal claims he’s never been a prototypical live-in parent for the children – in fact he spends almost half of each year in the US, working in Alaska in the summers and visiting his family in Wisconsin in winter.

To supplement his efforts, Wigdal put together a team of friends and contact that would help take care of the children. Consisting primarily of six or seven Chinese women who range in age from their 20s to 60s, the group would share childcare duties supplemented by a number of volunteer ayis who were compensated for travel and other expenses but were not paid regular wages.

When in China, Wigdal maintains a separate residence from the children, but spends almost all his time with the kids. His role in the children’s life, in addition to assisting with basic care, was to arrange for their medical treatment, educate them in English and take them to play outside to do “kid stuff.”

While he is in the US, his volunteer corps – the most regular of which is a now 76-year-old woman referred to as “Granny” Guo – take care of the kids. Meanwhile he maintains contact with them via Skype or Yahoo Messenger, usually twice per day.
THE COST OF CHILD CARE

As for how he has afforded to take care of 11 children, he says funds come from several sources: his own income and savings from work in the US; contributions from Chinese volunteers; and charitable contributions from hundreds of supporters overseas, the vast majority of whom he has never met.

Although he does not actively solicit funds from supporters, he travels frequently and speaks regularly at churches in the US. “When people ask me, I say ‘l won’t solicit money directly, but if you want to contribute, I can’t think of anyone more deserving than these children.’”

Donors find out where to give through word of mouth, and the money is deposited to a US bank account that is managed by Wigdal’s accountant.

The other component to affording 11 kids – six boys and five girls – is relatively frugal living and depending on the kindness of others: things like Guo’s negotiating inexpensive rents for the apartments the kids have lived in, while Jenny Lou (the owner of the well-known Beijing grocery chain) offers Wigdal bread that has passed the sell-by date but is still fine to eat.

But the question arises: 11 kids? Some married couples complain of being able to handle one child. How is it he was able to handle 11?

First, he says, he’s never been a single caregiver – it’s always been a team effort. And the range in ages of the children has meant the older children can help the younger ones.“ When you have a group with 12, 11, ten, nine, three eight-year-olds – they all learn to take care of each other,” he said. “The only time I ever had trouble with children was when I had eight bottle feeding babies at the same time – now that was crazy.”
THE ACCUSATIONS

Wigdal is quick to point out that the stories in the Chinese media have plenty of inaccuracies and exaggerations; however he also admits they contain grains of truth.

One of the more scandalous accusations in the original reports was an eyewitness saying the kids had been seen begging and rooting through the trash. Wigdal admits this happened – but with only one of the children, the oldest under his care, now 17-year-old Blaza.

“Blaza is mentally retarded. Before I took him in, from four to six years old, that’s how he survived: he ate out of the trash,” recalls Wigdal. It’s been a hard habit to break due to the boy’s intellectual limitations. “He still does this once in a while when I’m not around. I tell Granny Guo not to have him take out the trash, but sometimes when I’m not around, she forgets – and then he ends up rummaging around in other people’s trash.”

Were other kids doing the same? “There’s no way the other children were eating out of the trash,” he said. “They’re so picky about what they eat.”

Wigdal assumes that Blaza is also the cause of the rumors that the children were hungry. He claims the children were adequately fed, but that Blaza, like most teenagers, has an insatiable appetite.

“Blaza is always hungry. In fact he can’t help himself, he’ll even keep eating until he throws up,” said Wigdal. “I have to have him eat separately from the other children as he will try to eat their food too.”

He also admits to twisting Blaza’s ear in public if he wouldn’t listen, and being stern with the children to teach them to be disciplined. “But hitting them and kicking them? Come on,” he says.
PHOEBE’S DEATH

The most damaging accusation against Wigdal was the suggestion that he was the cause of the injury that sent Phoebe to the hospital in September.

Wigdal was in Alaska until flying back to Beijing on the evening of September 10, and showed his visa entry stamp to prove it. According to his account, he returned that evening to find Phoebe was in immediate pain from an injury that occurred an estimated two weeks before. Her abdomen was swollen from fluid buildup and she complained that she was in so much pain that she thought she might die. Wigdal took her to the hospital immediately in the early hours of that next day. Doctors determined that she had a ruptured kidney due to blunt force trauma and immediately performed surgery.

Phoebe remained in the hospital for most of September, and came out by October, doing fine and acting normal. Pictures taken during this period show Phoebe smiling. But by November, she took a turn for the worse, and her condition declined until her death in early December.

Wigdal says that Phoebe could not pinpoint the exact time or nature of her injury, but that she had told both Widgal and Guo that she had hit a table when roughhousing with one of the other children, and also had fallen off her bike.

During her hospitalization, Wigdal said he visited Phoebe numerous times, and called when he could not be there. He was unable to explain why reporters quoted volunteers attending to Phoebe during her stay as saying that he had not been there. He suspects reporters may have talked to one of the caregivers that were keeping vigil with Phoebe that did not know him.

According to Wigdal and one additional source, Phoebe’s eventual cause of death has cited as heart failure, a fact corroborated by another source, although a formal autopsy report has yet to be issued.

“Phoebe was a very spiritual person,” recalls Wigdal. “More than any of the other children, she loved reading the Bible, and throughout her illness she’d ask for Bible time either in person or if I wasn’t there, over the phone.”
WHITHER THE CHILDREN?

Wigdal has been concerned with the children’s well-being since they were taken from him, but has had no direct access as he is not on the approval list for visitors at the center where the children are staying. He made one visit to the center and was able to view them via a closed circuit camera and he claims they didn’t look happy, and even said that one of the children, 11-year-old David, managed to contact him multiple times via a cell phone, and on one occasion claims to have been hit by staff at the facility.

Since that time he’s done, what he can to try to arrange the children the continued medical care they need. One of the children has a severe form of scoliosis that impacts the functioning of her internal organs, and over the weekend Wigdal was at Oasis Hospital to try to arrange a checkup for her.

He is also working to prepare a memorial ceremony for Phoebe at Babaoshan sometime before he heads back to the US on December 22, although at this point Phoebe’s body still has not been released from the hospital.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR WIGDAL

Wigdal admits that he deliberately worked outside of the system to get the kids the care they needed. His plan all along has been to prioritize the immediate life-or-death medical needs of the kids, and worry about getting them proper identification papers later. He admits this has been an uphill battle, mostly handled by one of the volunteer members of his team.

While he finds himself unable to see the children he’s been raising for the better part of 11 years, he holds out hope that he will one day be reunited with them. “As for our team, we just want to get back to where we were, helping [the kids] with their medical issues and working through the process to get their hukous [household registrations],” Wigdal said.

In an ideal scenario, he’d like to see all of the children get the paperwork they need to be adopted by American parents, and live close enough to each other to stay in touch with one as a family – although he admits this is a long shot.

In the meantime, Wigdal will return to the US next week to spend Christmas with his elderly father, who is in a nursing home. He plans to return to China after Chinese New Year, as has been his pattern for years, and ideally wants to continue to assist orphans in China.

Wigdal’s passion for helping orphans seems undiminished. He says wants to establish a more formal foundation to raise money for the ten children, to give them a chance to get continued medical care and eventually go to college. And, he says, if he has any way to help change the way orphans are cared for in China, then he’d be happy to do so. “I just want to see change – orphans adopted faster, better foster care,” he said, and he doesn’t expect the recent developments to change his mission. “My heart for the past 20 years has been dedicated to orphans,” Wigdal said.”

American at Center of Foster Children Saga Defends Himself[The Beijinger 12/17/14 by Michael Wester]

Update 5: Ray Wigdal sent me this followup interview: http://www.fawan.com/Article/rx/2015/05/12/164255288164.html.

Google-Translated: “In December 2014, the US men were volunteers questioned Lei Mengen abused its “adoption” of more Chinese children, one girl named Phoebe injury or death in connection therewith. However, child care volunteers to help Lei Mengen this be denied.

After a lapse of several months, he returned to China’s 雷蒙恩 interview with this reporter, responded to all questions about the matter, also spoke out of frustration, “abuse” event outside.

Event Review “daughter” passed away due to illness foreign “father” has been questioned

December 2014, 8-year-old Chinese girl Phoebe duodenal obstruction and kidney damage due to seriously ill in hospital and eventually died passed away. Her foreign “adoptive” 雷蒙恩 been questioned by some volunteers not to Phoebe and his “adoption” Another 11 Chinese children provide good living conditions. Others questioned Phoebe and Lei Mengen related injuries, the police followed the investigation. Reporters multi-link Lei Mengen, but received no reply.

Then, a long-term care for children and the elderly 雷蒙恩 came forward to say, Phoebe’s injury was not caused by Lei Mengen. A few days Houleimengen interview with CCTV also denied that he “abused” foster child. But Yinleimengen and no formal adoption procedures, the volunteers can not worry about the children get an education and have no legal status in China, is not conducive to children grow, they put the remaining 11 children to Beijing Rescuing Protection Center.

Interview “I did not hurt Phoebe, is not a ‘murderer’.”

Recently, Lei Mengen Starbucks at Lido Place, reporters interviewed. Before the official beginning of the interview, 雷蒙恩 fluent Chinese, he told reporters, although the four months ago has been clarified Phoebe volunteers to help him with his injury has nothing to do, but he has to repeat himself clearly. “Otherwise, there will not treat me like a murderer.”

During the interview, he often operating small computer table, he showed reporters photographs of children, smile on his face.

The talk about Phoebe, Lei Mengen always frowned; mention was accused of “abuse” of children, 雷蒙恩 often hands out slightly open, gently shaking his head, he said: “This is not true why things ended up! so? ”

Claiming to have been abandoned to save the doctor Sick Children

Lei Mengen claiming 57-year-old this year, he came to China in the first 30 years. 1985, Lei Mengen as students came to Beijing Language and Culture University to learn Chinese. Prior to China, he was a principal of a school.

After graduation, in addition to China to work, do business, he also participated in charitable activities to help orphans. In 2002, one of his Chinese friend found a mentally retarded boy and abandoned hope that he shelter care. Hesitation, he left the boy, and the boy who carried a disease treatment.

雷蒙恩 said, 12 years later, he has another “adoption” over 14 have congenital disease of children, he contacted a doctor at home and abroad, the most appropriate treatment options for children, and for them to spend more than 20 million dollar made 16 surgeries. Which has a pyloric atresia boy, he has been a doctor, “give up.” But in 雷蒙恩’s insistence, to complete the final treatment.

雷蒙恩 said early in October 2004, there is a girl behind a large package by their own shelter. A doctor suggested using a needle to extract pustule, quick but may harm the child’s brain. But Lei Mengen in consultation with a number of doctors, decided to take a relatively slower but safer hyperbaric chamber to treat. Within two months, he took the children to and from the hospital every day, until she is fully recovered.

When faced with those organs missing, there is no hope of treating children, he had thought of giving up. But once, a child suddenly took hold of his hand, he did not appear on this idea too.

Response to questions

About Phoebe, “I clarified myself, but still hard to open the knot”

Legal Evening News: Phoebe had three kidney contusion due to hospitalization, medical certificate shows the cause is “external”, which caused volunteers to your question. Phoebe’s death and you think about it yourself?

Leimeng En: I only know Phoebe died of intestinal obstruction caused by a series of complications. As for the reason, Phoebe told me is his ride a fall. There may have been a volunteer told me that two boys and injuring one person, or it may have two reasons. Phoebe thin due to the onset, especially after suffering from intestinal obstruction later Masayuki not eat.

June to early September every year I’m going to Alaska to work. Phoebe onset of last August, I have not returned to China from the United States I can not hurt her.

Legal Evening News: What is the mood now think of Phoebe?

Lei Mengen: a dozen children in my most loved her, and now I clarified myself, but still hard to open the knot.

Charitable “I personally have never received donations”

Legal Evening News: volunteers challenge your child abuse, on the grounds that you have seen are not friendly to the children, and give them to eat unhealthy food, looks malnourished. Capital Paradise Shunyi district has security also see your children who eat from the trash dumpster.

Lei Mengen: dumpster eat is a child mental problems. I have repeatedly told him not to turn the garbage, but his thinking is not normal, he sometimes look through the garbage. And while I’m away, aunts management of their not so strict, he also had the opportunity to go to the district where the dumpster eat.

Legal Evening News: volunteers said that once the question of the child’s situation, you consider moving, or even the threat of volunteers. Their words are true?

Lei Mengen: This is not true, I move because the landlord or neighbor complaints go back. Because children are more, some neighbors feel they naughty, noisy.

Legal Evening News: Some people say you “adopt” a child and the child’s picture was placed on the site to make money?

Lei Mengen: This is untrue, I personally never received donations. No donation account on the site, nor receiving function, how to give money to me? Some people want to contribute, I have been commissioned by the Chinese friend transferred to hospital directly for the child’s treatment, no therapeutic use, a point will not.

About Children “They are afraid of me because I am very strict.”

Legal Evening News: We have contact with children, they are afraid of you tell us why?

Lei Mengen: Because I very strict. I have not the time, some of them secret, for fear I found and be disciplined. For example there are some children have been theft, I am afraid to say that kind of thing, with the poor to obtain something. There is a child will threaten other kids to help him to do some bad things, and ask them to be kept confidential.

I remind them that you are doing them no problem, but a few years, after 18 years, in violation of the law. Police to control you. I had to educate deprived and reward with Oreo cookies, also played their ass when they do something wrong. But children know that I was in charge they do out of love, hope they can grow, we are convinced that we are one people.

Legal Evening News: Some people think that although you “adopt” the children, but with your economic and living conditions, these children can not be well taken care of, how do you see?

Lei Mengen: I returned to the United States every year in the summer, to Alaska to work or repair airport road, occasionally to New York to help business, have income of about $ 60,000 per year. Removal of travel and living expenses in the United States I, also left nearly 300,000 yuan. I have said before, I can raise economic conditions 20 children no problem.

On the “adoption” “They fit family education, and accounts difficult.”

Legal Evening News: Why not send children to school?

Lei Mengen: I support the kids to school. However, these children have a disability, to be president of the experience I had, children with disabilities into the middle of a normal child, will be subject to discrimination, ridicule. In the street, we had encountered them have children, pointing, he said:. “Look, his mouth.” So I think that children are the most suitable for home-schooled, but the kids did not account.

Legal Evening News: Have you tried to give the children to do accounts?

Lei Mengen: Account is the most difficult. I do not know which department and in China, through the China I know friends help me, and I every year, more than six months is not in China, the progress is very slow. According to the current procedures for accounts, and I want them to an adoption center, and then distributed by the Adoption Center to raise families and go through the residence. But so that the child may have and I separated, emotionally not easy to accept, the kids certainly not dry.

About the future “has set up a foundation, hope and civil sector cooperation”

Legal Evening News: The children were sent to the day after the rescue Protection Center, you are doing?

Lei Mengen: I have been in contact a US doctor Beijing to orphans, poor families surgery, the other is to set up his own foundation. Now my most urgent desire is to see the children, let them come back to me.

After the incident, I have been to Beijing Minors Protection Center, would like to see the children, but the staff at the center of concerns about the protection of children just stabilize and begin to adapt to the new environment, see I may cause agitation, So I do not promise me a request. I told them lived together for so many years, can not easily give up from the memories and emotions. We hope the children can learn Chinese conservation center. If they come back, I will provide a better education than before for them, and will as soon as they apply for residence.

Legal Evening News: the future will be to adopt a child in China?

Lei Mengen: I have set up a foundation in the United States, will soon be put into operation, can help more children, in addition to carry out services in China, also went to Africa. I even hope that we can cooperate in the future with the civil affairs department to continue to help children, it is really a blessing in disguise, a blessing in disguise.”