An orphanage for children with disabilities in China has been shut down by authorities, and according to one person, it's just the latest in a string of Christian orphanages being closed.

The Bethany Home for Children with Disabilities was founded in 1997 and based on Biblical principals. It operated in the Shanxi province.

Voice of the Martyrs Canada reports that authorities forcibly removed all the children on August 26. The children were placed in state care.

The orphanage had cared for over 100 children, most of whom had been abandoned by their parents because of their disabilities.

The local authorities had arrived unexpectedly earlier in August and "notified staff that the children would be transferred to a state-run orphanage based on alleged suspicions that the home was permitting the illegal adoption of children," VOTM reports. People involved with the orphanage told VOTM that was not true. However, all the children, as well as some elderly residents at the facility, were removed at the end of August.

VOTM reports that a local man, identified only as Mr. Huang, has told them that authorities are worried orphanages will teach religion to children.