Celebrating International Children's Day and Child Welfare Week

Beijing, 30 May 2016 – As China celebrates the seventh Child Welfare Week along with International Children's Day, UNICEF calls for the establishment of a strong child welfare system in China, in order to make social protection and welfare work for every child.

This year's Child Welfare Stocktaking Report, released at the launch ceremony of the Child Welfare Week at the UNICEF compound today, highlights progress for children. It notes that the past year has brought increased attention and some progress to building an inclusive system that reaches more children. From June 2015 to May 2016, 30 central policies were released to improve child welfare.

Produced by Beijing Normal University and supported by UNICEF, the annual report also emphasizes that there is still more work to be done to reach the millions of children in need. It stresses that living allowances for poor children are still low and did not reach all the children in need. It also acknowledges that many disadvantaged children still face multiple challenges, including child abuse, poverty and lack of family care and support.

"The Child Welfare Stocktaking Report clearly outlines a roadmap for China to make social protection and welfare work for every child – by strengthening welfare services at the village level, investing in the capacity building of social workers and increasing allowances for vulnerable children," said Ron Pouwels, Chief of Child Protection at UNICEF China. “The challenge is to go the last mile and ensure access to services for the most vulnerable and hard to reach children.”

One approach highlighted by the Child Welfare Stocktaking Report is the Barefoot Social Worker programme, which has been leading the way as a community-based model to extend social services to vulnerable children who live in the remotest and poorest parts of the country. The Child Welfare Director or “barefoot social worker”, who lives within the community, serves as the frontline interface with the children and their families, to help them identify needs and link them with the corresponding social services or social assistance.

Begun in 2010 in just 120 villages in five regions (Henan, Sichuan, Shanxi, Xinjiang and Yunnan), this approach is now being replicated and was implemented in 1,000 villages across the country in 2016 alone.

“UNICEF is so proud that this model is being rolled out across the country. By helping the Government put in place one of the building blocks of a comprehensive community-based child protection and welfare mechanism, we hope that every child – no matter who they are or where they come from - has the support they need to survive, thrive and develop to their full potential,” said Pouwels.

The Barefoot Social Worker approach has proven itself to be very effective in supporting children in communities affected by poverty. With 25 per cent of children in China living in poverty affected areas, UNICEF believes that building a strong child welfare system is going to be critical for the Government's ambitious goal of eradicating poverty by 2020.

Global experience demonstrates that child poverty cannot be measured by economic indicators alone. It must include how a child experiences poverty and how deprivation of material, spiritual and emotional resources impacts child survival and development and the ability of every child to enjoy his or her rights, achieve their full potential and participate as full and equal members of society.

“Making social protection and welfare work for every child contributes to ending poverty for children in all its forms, and paves the way for China to reach its ambitious poverty eradication goal of lifting 70 million people out of poverty by 2020,” concluded Pouwels.