China News Service, May 25th. Zhao Yong, deputy director of the Child Welfare Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and first-level inspector, introduced on the 25th that in recent years, the total number of orphans in my country has dropped from 570,000 in 2012 to 190,000 at present. 66%.
Among them, only 59,000 children were raised by child welfare institutions nationwide, a 30% decrease compared with 86,000 in 2017; at the same time, it is clear that by 2025, the optimization and quality improvement and innovation transformation of child welfare institutions will be fully completed. The high-quality development trend of the institution has been continuously consolidated.
Recently, 14 departments including the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Emergency Management, and the China Disabled Persons’ Federation jointly issued the "Opinions on Further Promoting the Optimization and Quality Improvement of Child Welfare Institutions and the Innovation and Transformation of High-quality Development."
The Ministry of Civil Affairs held a press conference on the 25th to introduce the "Opinions".
Zhao Yong stated that the main goal of reforms clearly defined in the "Opinions" is that by 2025, the optimization and quality improvement and innovation transformation of child welfare institutions will be fully completed, and the high-quality development trend of child welfare institutions will continue to be consolidated.
The resource allocation of child welfare institutions is more optimized, the relationship of power and responsibility is clearer, and the guarantee services are more efficient.
The child welfare institutions established by the civil affairs departments at the provincial and prefecture levels have achieved full optimization and quality improvement, and the child welfare institutions established by the civil affairs departments at the county level have completed innovation and transformation.
The "Opinions" set out detailed regulations on how to promote the optimization and quality improvement of child welfare institutions established by civil affairs departments at the provincial and prefecture levels, as well as the innovative transformation of child welfare institutions established by civil affairs departments at the county level.
In order to strengthen safeguard measures and implement work well, the "Opinions" also put forward specific requirements on how to strengthen organizational leadership, strengthen department responsibilities, and ensure the smooth and orderly progress of reforms.
According to Zhao Yong, there are currently 1,217 child welfare institutions in my country, including 336 child welfare institutions above the city level and 881 child welfare institutions at the county level.
In recent years, under the leadership of the Party Central Committee, child welfare has made great progress, demonstrating the superiority of the socialist system.
At the same time, my country’s child welfare work also has some general problems that need to be solved in a coordinated manner, mainly in the following aspects:
First, the continued sharp decline in the number of orphans has left child welfare agencies idle.
The total number of orphans in my country has dropped from 570,000 in 2012 to 190,000 at present, a decrease of 66%.
Among them, only 59,000 children were raised by child welfare institutions nationwide, which was a 30% drop from 86,000 in 2017.
Nearly 70% of county-level child welfare institutions nationwide raise fewer than 10 children.
A large number of child welfare institutions have problems such as idle resources.
Second, the child welfare institutions established by most county-level civil affairs departments have insufficient risk prevention capabilities.
Especially in the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, it has been exposed that such institutions have problems in the quality of personnel, facilities and equipment, and management levels, which are the weak link in the prevention and control of the epidemic in the field of child welfare.
Third, the level of institutional specialization urgently needs further improvement.
Children raised by child welfare institutions have changed from mainly healthy children to severely ill and severely disabled children. Children’s needs for professional services in medical, rehabilitation, special education, and social work are very urgent. However, due to the large number of institutions, it is difficult to concentrate on high-quality services. Resources improve professional standards and promote high-quality development.
Zhao Yong pointed out that in order to solve these problems faced by the development of child welfare institutions and improve the service level of institutions for raising children, in accordance with the spirit of the "Opinions", the child welfare institutions established by the provincial and municipal civil affairs departments and the provincial civil affairs departments have determined that Some county-level child welfare institutions with good basic conditions and large numbers of children raise children under long-term supervision in their jurisdictions. Civil affairs departments at all levels must focus on promoting the high-quality development of the integration of child care, medical care, rehabilitation, education, and social work.
"Currently, there are 83,000 beds in child welfare institutions at the city level and above, and they are fully capable of raising all 59,000 children under long-term state supervision." Zhao Yong said.