Taichung: The Taichung City government has pledged to assist a 21-year-old man, who has been living without an official identity, in registering his household, as announced by Mayor Lu Shiow-yen during a session at the Taichung City Council. This move marks the first step in addressing the young man’s lack of official documentation and access to essential services.

According to Focus Taiwan, the young man was recently discovered at a junkyard in the city’s Beitun District by a local ward chief. The Taichung Social Affairs Bureau has since taken charge of the case. Mayor Lu revealed that attempts to contact the young man’s father, surnamed Huang, for necessary birth documentation were unsuccessful, as he did not respond to phone calls and was unavailable when the bureau staff and local police visited his home.

In a cross-departmental meeting held on Monday, city officials decided that registering the young man’s household must precede any further measures, such as arranging remedial education due to his lack of compulsory schooling or determining whether to impose a fine on his father. The Social Affairs Bureau has temporarily placed the man in a shelter to facilitate his social integration but emphasized the need for an ID card to enable his access to formal education.

The situation unfolded further during a police interview with both the young man and his father on Sunday. Huang disclosed that the young man was born to a Southeast Asian mother who left shortly after his birth. With limited education, Huang did not register his son’s household but allowed him freedom of movement while advising caution due to lack of vaccinations. Huang asserted that he never confined his son at home.

The young man expressed a preference for working over schooling and confirmed that he had not suffered abuse at the hands of his father, choosing not to press charges against him. The case gained public attention after Beitun District ward chief Su Yi-qing highlighted it in a Facebook post on June 10. Su noted the young man’s behavior and communication abilities resembled those of a 10-year-old and mentioned his Chinese language skills bore a Southeast Asian accent.