Welfare provision for vulnerable children: The missing role of the state

China Quarterly

Volumn , Issue 181, 2005, Pages 122-136

  Shang, Xiaoyuan ^a   Wu, Xiaoming ^a   Wu, Yue ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CHILD WELFARE; STATE ROLE; WELFARE PROVISION;

ASIA; CHINA; EASTERN HEMISPHERE; EURASIA; FAR EAST; WORLD;

EID: 17444366968     PISSN: 03057410     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S030574100500007X     Document Type: Article

References (45)

1. Kay Johnson, "Chinese orphanages: saving China's abandoned girls," The Australia Journal of Chinese Affairs, No. 30 (July 1993), pp. 61-87;
2. Linda Wong, Marginalization and Social Welfare in China (London: Routledge, 1998);
3. Xiaoyuan Shang, "Moving toward a multi-level and multi-pillar system: institutional care in two Chinese cities," Journal of Social Policy Vol. 30, No. 2 (2001a), pp. 259-281.
4. Wong, Marginalization and Social Welfare.
5. Xiaoyuan Shang and Xiaoming Wu, "Changing approaches of social protection: social assistance reform in urban China," Journal of Social Policy and Society, Vol. 3, No. 3 (2004), pp. 259-271.
6. Xiaoyuan Shang, "Moving toward a multi-level and multi-pillar system."
7. Xiaoyuan Shang and Yang Dehua, Child Abandonment and the Strategy of Information, Education and Communication Activities in China, a report for UNICEF and MCA ( 2001);
8. Johnson, "Chinese orphanages." Kay Johnson, Banghan Huang and, Liyao Wang, "Infant abandonment and adoption in China," Population and Development Review, Vol. 24, No. 3 (1998), pp. 469-510.
9. There are no official statistics available. The number is estimated by one of the authors according to interviews conducted in a few provinces and is not accurate. It is based on the following information: there are more than 20,000 rural orphans in one province and one city (Yunnan and Beijing), and more than 40,000 rural children in another province who have one or both deceased parent(s). If we assume that there are about 20,000 rural orphans in each province, the total number should be more than 600,000 in China. Given that there should be fewer orphans in richer areas and smaller provinces, we put the number at 400,000. This is a very conservative estimate and it can be used as an indicative figure only. We hope we can have a more accurate figure through a comprehensive investigation into the situation of Chinese rural orphans in 2004. We have no way of making even a rough estimate of the number of abandoned children in rural areas.
10. Chinese News, 30 November 2002, www.sina.com.cn.
11. Wubao ("five guarantees") is a rural community based social protection system, which provides free food, fuel, clothes and health care to orphans, older and disabled people who are not able to support themselves, with no one legally responsible for their well-being. Free education for children and funeral services for older people are also provided (Shang and Wu "Changing approaches of social protection").
12. According to an interviewee, Zhang. She is the director of Beijing Sun Village, a non-government welfare home for children whose parents are long-term prisoners.
13. Interview, Zhang, Beijing Sun Village, October 2003.
14. http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2003-11-18/08262156832.shtml.
15. Shijiazhuang City Child Protection and Education Centre (SCCPEC) (ed.), Wei liulang ertong cheng qi yipian lantian (To Maintain a Piece of Blue Sky for Street Children: A Report from Shijiazhuang City Child Protection and Education Centre) (Shijiazhuang: Hebei jiaoyu chubanshe, 2003).
16. Guo Wenye and Wang Maolin "Woguo liulang ertong xianzhuang yanjiu" ("The current situation of street children in China"), paper presented to the International Conference on Saving Vagrant Children, Shijiazhuang 23-26 October 2003).
17. Interview with civil affairs official, 25 October 2003.
18. Now the situation depends on policies made by local governments (interview with rural civil affairs officials, July 2004).
19. Department of Finance and Administration, MCA (eds.), China Civil Affairs Statistical Yearbook (Beijing: China Statistics Press, 2002), p. 149.
20. Xin Gu, "Dismantling the Chinese mini-welfare state? Marketization and the politics of institutional transformation, 1979-1999," Communist and Post-Communist Studies, No. 34 (2001), pp. 91-111.
21. Fang Cai, Zhonguo chengxiang jiuye: wenti yu xuanze (Employment in Rural and Urban China: Issues and Options) (Beijing: Zhongguo sheke wenxian chubanshe, 2002), p. 58.
22. China Research Centre on Ageing, Proceedings of the Conference on the Support System for China's Elderly (Beijing: China Research Centre on Ageing, December 1994).
23. Interview, Zhang, Beijing Sun Village, 27 October 2003.
24. Interview, Zhang, Director of Shanghai Children's Welfare Institution, October 2003.
25. Qu Qing, "Woguo muqian jiuzhu liulang ertong de xianzhuang, wenti ji duice jianyi" ("The current situation, problems and policy suggestions on assistance to vagrant children in China"), paper presented to the International Conference on Saving Vagrant Children, Shijiazhuang 23-26 October 2003).
26. Interview with civil affairs official, 22 October 2003
27. Xiaoyuan Shang, "Moving toward a multi-level and multi-pillar system"; Xiaoyuan Shang and Xiaoming Wu, "Protecting children under financial constraints: the case of Datong," Journal of Social Policy, Vol. 32, No. 4 (2003), pp. 549-570.
28. Xiaoyuan Shang, "Looking for a better way to care for children: cooperation between the state and civil society," Social Service Review, Vol. 76, No. 2 (2002) pp. 203-228;
29. Guo and Wang, "The current situation of street children."
30. Xiaoyuan Shang, "Moving toward a multi-level and multi-pillar system";
31. Xiaoyuan Shang, "Looking for a better way to care for children" ;
32. Shang and Wu, "Protecting children under financial constraints."
33. Cairang Douji, Yanyin Yang et al., Zhongguo de chengshi pinkun he zuidi shenghuo baozhang, Zhongguo chengshi fan pinkun luntan zhuti baogao (Urban Poverty and Minimum Living Security: Main Report of China Urban Anti-poverty Forum) (Beijing: Ministry of Civil Affairs, 2002);
34. Shang and Wu, "Changing approaches of social protection."
35. The authors have no way of estimating the number of children cared for by these NGCWIs since they have no legal status. However, the size of these institutions varies between about five to 200 beds. Some have already become very famous.
36. Rifang Qin, Cui Lian and Xu Aiqing, "Woguo liulang ertong jiuzhu baohu jigou dingwei fenxi," ("An analysis on the structure of the system of protecting vagrant children in China"), paper presented to the International Conference on Saving Vagrant Children, Shijiazhuang 23-26 October 2003). Joint Research Team from Civil Affairs Bureau in Hebei province and Institute of Sociology, Hebei Academy of Social Science, "Cong shehuiban ertong fuli jigou xianzhuang kan wanshan qi zhengce fagui de jinpoxing" ("The urgency of perfecting policies and regulations on children's welfare homes run by society"), article presented to The First National Conference of Social Welfare Theory and Policy, Beijing, November 2000.
37. Interview with a staff member of a NGCWI, 29 October 2003.
38. Interview with a vice-director of a NGCWI, 24 October 2003.
39. Almost all directors of NGCWIs interviewed know the situation. So they do not worry about the possibility that the government will close their homes. However, the situation may make it difficult for the government to supervise the actions of NGCWIs. For example, the government may hesitate to close a home which is not qualified to care for children owing to financial or other considerations.
40. Interview with a vice-director of a NGCWI, 24 October 2003.
41. Xiaoyuan Shang and Li Hao, Institutional and Other Forms of Alternative Care in China: An Overview of Policy Background, a report for UNICEF and MCA, December 2001.
42. MCA, "Ertong fuliyuan guanli zanxing banfa" ("Temporary methods of management of social welfare institutions"), in Office of Law and Regulations (ed.) (Beijing, MCA 1999).
43. Xiaoyuan Shang, Institutional and Other Forms of Alternative Care: Local Cases and Practice in China, a report for UNICEF and MCA, December 2001. Xiaoyuan Shang, "Looking for a better way to care for children."
44. Interview with some directors of SCWIs, in Nanchang, Shanghai and Beijing in October 2001.
45. Interview with directors and staff of some NGCWI, 9 October 2003.