A single mum abandoned her autistic son inside KFC restaurant with a note saying she couldn't afford to raise him.
The six-year-old boy, whose name has not been given, was found wandering around the chicken restaurant on his own while finishing his meal at Hangzhou Railway Station in China, on Monday, May 13.
Police were called to investigate after KFC staff suspected the child had been abandoned. The mum was later arrested.
Officer Yao Jianguo said: “I tried to talk to him but he didn’t say a word. He just ate his food and ran around.”
The officers also found a note in the boy’s pocket.
Mum ashamed to go out after 'botched' injections leave her with huge 'DUCK LIPS'
Officer Yao added: “[The note] said the boy was autistic, and that the parent could no longer cope with the costs involved in raising and treating him.
“She hoped a Good Samaritan would take him in or send him to an orphanage.”
The police brought the boy back to the police station before sending him to the Hangzhou Children's Welfare Institute.
His mum, named only as Mrs Ye, was last seen in CCTV video covering her face with a cap while dropping the boy off at the train station KFC.
She was tracked to a rental home two days later and detained.
The 28-year-old parent revealed she became a single mum, when her husband had walked out on the family, when her son was just three years old.
British husband and wife among four killed on way to wedding in horror crash
She carried on for three years alone, earning just 3,000 RMB - about £340 - a month at her job, but it costs 2,000 RMB - about £226 - to hire full-time carer for her son.
Mrs Ye said she “could no longer live like this”.
Authorities have decided to keep the boy at the city’s welfare institute, where a number of families have already offered to assist with the boy’s living costs.
Mrs Ye remains in custody as the investigation continues.
