Ex-prisoners reunite with their seven children

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Ex-prisoners reunite with their seven children

A couple who were released from jail went looking for their seven children who were staying with adoptive families throughout Southern Taiwan and they were finally reunited. The children were adopted by different families after the husband and wife went to jail for separate crimes. And slightly more than a year later, the family of nine finally reunited in Pingtung, Taiwan.

The family is having their meal together for the first time after more than three years​

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In 2007, drug addict Ah Fei was sent to jail, leaving his wife Ah Ying to take care of their children. At that time, the eldest child Xiao Hei was in secondary school and Xiao Budian, the youngest, was a toddler. The next year, Ah Ying was also sentenced to jail for taking drugs. Since then, the family members were separated and sent to different adoptive families.

"I regretted what I have done. I cried every time I saw the children's photographs sent to me by social workers. "And I swore that I had to get them back together one day," said Ah Ying. In May last year, Ah Fei and Ah Ying began their journey searching for their children.

Xiao Hei was in military service, a child was temporally living with his uncle in Hengchun while the rest were adopted by separate families in Tainan, Pingtung and Fang Liau. With help from the social workers, the couple managed to meet the children and enjoyed short moments with them. But it was not enough.

They wanted a complete family and worked hard to get them all together under one roof. Ah Fei then found a job as a mechanic. After the parents showed that they behaved well and had a stable income, the social workers finally agreed for the family to be reunited. Xiao Hei said: "No matter how hard our lives are, we will not be separated and will stay together forever."