A man in Lanxi, Zhejiang province, adopted an abandoned girl but has been unable to obtain household registration for her for the past 13 years, Qianjiang Evening News reported on Thursday.

Chen Xiqing, 48, a villager from Qianhu, found the abandoned baby girl when she was only 7 days old and raised her, as he had recently divorced and had no children. Chen's family was poor and he had to work hard to feed and look after the baby.

In July 2012, Chen was seriously injured at work and he has been paralyzed by the injury since then. Chen worried that the girl had no household registration and could not go to middle school or work, which both need household registration.

According to the civil affairs bureau of Lanxi city, China's adoption law stipulates that a single male who wants to adopt a girl should be 40 years older than the girl, and Chen is only 35 years older than the girl, so he does not meet the regulation and cannot get adoption approval from the civil affairs authority. Without that approval, he cannot get household registration for the girl.

One way to solve this is for Chen to give the girl to his relatives or friends who meet the regulation and are willing to adopt the girl, but this must be done before the girl turns 14, the regulation stipulates.

The city civil affairs bureau said it will help Chen for the girl's household registration in accordance with law and regulation concerned.