A LOCAL COURT in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong province, recently terminated the guardianship of a 13-year-old girl's parents, who it deemed incapable of taking care of her, and entrusted her to the local community. Beijing News commented on Friday:

The 13-year-old's drug-addicted father has been absent for years and her mother is suffering from mental illness, while other relatives either refuse to adopt her or lack the capacity to do so, thus the transfer of her parents' guardianship to the community is justifiable in accordance with relevant rules of the General Provisions of the Civil Law, which were passed on Mar 15 and will take effect on Oct 1.

There have been precedents for rescinding parents' guardianship of their kids. In November, a man in Suqian, East China's Jiangsu province, lost the guardianship of his son after forcing his son to beg. A woman from Taizhou, another city in the province, was recently given the same punishment after she knowingly left her newly born daughter in a dustbin.

The first withdrawal of guardianship only happened two years ago in China. That means there was no legal precedent for more than two decades after the provision to remove guardianship was introduced.

More needs to be done to make sure the relevant laws are implemented and the underage receive their deserved care.

Parents are legal guardians of their children, but there is no guarantee that all of them are capable of carrying out their parental responsibilities. The right to guardianship must be ended when those with the duty are unable or unwilling to care for their wards.