Why Does This Occur?

Today, there are tens of thousands of children who are orphaned in China. 95% of these children are completely healthy little girls. Why is this occurring?

A little bit of background:

This problem spawned due to the passage of the One Child Policy, created in 1979, that was upheld in the People's Republic of China. This allows a family to have only one child, as the name implies. If the first child is a girl, the family would usually abandon her as the parents would rather have a son. If a family does have a second child, they've violated the policy and thus must have to pay heavy fines and are penalized in other ways, such as not being eligible to receive bonuses from work. 

In recent times, the rising costs of health care costs has caused poorer families to abandon their children because the families can no longer support their child. 

Thankfully, in 1992 China adopted its first Adoption Law. It was recorded in 1992 that 2,000 adoptions occurred. This number has dramatically increased to 55,000 adoptions recorded in 2011.

Pictured below: An orphaned girl crying on the side of the street.