Chinese-American Leaders Call for Action on ‘Parachute Kids’ : Immigrants: Taiwan is urged to cut the flow of children sent alone to attend U.S. schools. Programs are proposed to combat isolation of those already here.

Chinese-American community leaders this week called on the Taiwanese government, local schools and Asian-American social service agencies to stem the tide of “parachute kids”--youths who are dropped off to live and attend school in the United States while their wealthy parents remain in Asia.

In a Tuesday evening forum that drew about 60 civic leaders, educators, psychologists and parachute kids from throughout Los Angeles County, speakers urged Taiwan to tighten visa requirements and called on the community to establish drop-in centers, a network of private homes that would take in the youths and hot lines for lonely students already here.

They also called on U.S. school districts to refuse enrollment to Chinese students who cannot prove they live with a parent or legal guardian and to be more vigilant in checking up on children they suspect of living alone.

The meeting, held at a Chinese community center in Rosemead, was organized by the Taiwanese envoy in Los Angeles after growing media scrutiny sparked by a Times story that described the phenomenon of parachute kids. Up to 40,000 youths from Taiwan and more from Hong Kong and Korea are sent to the United States to take advantage of the less cutthroat school system, increase their chances of getting into college and escape a mandatory two-year draft for boys. In many cases the students live alone, with servants or with unrelated guardians.

“We’ve been concerned about this for years and I’m glad the government is finally getting involved. I think they have to do something about it,” said Marina Tse, president of the Chinese-American Parent Teacher Assn. of Southern California.

But the meeting also illustrated the deep philosophical rifts that divide the Chinese community on the issue. Many speakers seemed torn between taking pride in the high academic accomplishments and good behavior of most of the children and acknowledging the toll of such a lifestyle, which in the worst cases has led to delinquency and crime.

“We don’t have a problem with parachute kids. What we have is some problem parachute kids,” said a representative from Pacific News, a weekly Chinese-language newspaper that circulates in the United States.

Some defended the practice, pointing out that the Chinese have a long tradition of sending children to live with relatives or friends for economic and social reasons.

One former parachute kid who is in graduate school said the experience forced her to grow up. As a teen-ager in Taiwan, she said, she often ditched classes and got into trouble.

But Alice Whang, president of the South Pasadena Board of Education, argued that children need nurturing and supervision from parents, especially during their teen years. The parachute problem is endemic in her city, where officials have found Chinese students using fake documents to enroll in school.

Instead of living with relatives, as they claim, the teen-agers often rent a house together, some holding all-night parties and failing to pay the rent, Whang said. Another typical situation is for adults to take in students as boarders, which can lead to exploitation.

“You see these see ads in Chinese newspapers saying, ‘We will take care of students,’ ” Whang said. “One place on the Westside has 10 kids in a house and the food is rationed; if they want an extra egg or bowl of noodles, they have to pay a dollar.”

At Tuesday’s meeting, five parachute kids from San Gabriel and Hacienda Heights told the crowd in shy, halting voices about running up $2,000 monthly phone bills to Taiwan and clinging to friends as surrogate parents.

“Our living conditions are adequate--the problem is just being lonely,” said one 14-year-old girl from San Gabriel. “I always think about the past, of festivals like Chinese New Year where everyone was around, my mom, my aunties.”

In recent years, the Taiwanese media have run numerous stories on the lives of parachute kids in Australia and the United States, including exposes on those who become delinquents. Few in Tuesday’s crowd, however, believe the trend will slow until foreign residency laws are changed and Taiwan’s educational system is reformed. Fewer than one-third of those applying for four-year colleges in Taiwan get in, government officials said.

The community leaders agreed that Chinese-American groups must do more to help ease the dislocation the parachute kids feel after being wrenched at a young age from their family and culture.

“The more support we give them, the more willing they’ll be to reveal their identity, that they are here alone,” said Jia-Shing Lin, a psychologist with the Asian Pacific Family Center in Rosemead. “Their parents may have told them, ‘Hey, don’t ever tell anyone you’re here by yourself.’ ”

Some at Tuesday’s forum, including Theresa Chao, president of the Southern California Council of Chinese Schools, suggested compiling lists of parachute kids at each school so that community groups can begin doing outreach, planning extracurricular activities and counseling for the estimated 10,000 such children in California.

But C. Y. Chang, Taiwan’s representative in Los Angeles, said his office has found it very difficult to identify parachute kids because they are not required to register with him when they arrive.

“We do not have the manpower to go out and search for them,” Chang conceded. “Tonight our primary concern is to try to improve living conditions of these kids. We don’t expect to solve all our problems tonight but we wanted to face them. That’s why we’re here.”