A new start, a new dream

When he was eight years old Aidy dreamed of becoming a policeman one day.

But by the age of 16, his life had taken a wrong turn. Aidy and some friends were caught stealing by Beijing police.  "That's when I knew it would not be realistic (being a policeman)," Aidy said with his head down, eyes fixed on the ground. 

Authorities transported Aidy back to his native Xinjiang, and for a very long time he felt as though he had lost direction in his life. But recently, Aidy, and other children like him, are beginning to find help to realize their dreams.

Since 2011, UNICEF has supported a Ministry of Civil Affairs programme in the Aksu district of Xinjiang to protect vulnerable children, including children on the street. To date, 350 children like Aidy have found new direction through the programme. "International experience shows that community based support, rather than punishment leads to the best outcomes for children on the street," said Wang Daming, UNICEF Child Protection expert.

"Our local partners in Aksu have embraced this approach and it is demonstrating a model with great potential for China," added Wang. 

Three pronged approach

The story of Dai Xiang shows how child rights principles and better inter-agency collaboration are beginning to achieve better results for children at risk. 

When he was still young, Dai Xiang was abandoned by his divorced parents and began to live on the streets of Aksu. Eventually he was referred to the UNICEF supported Aksu Rescue Centre for Minors. Under the new strategy, the Centre took into consideration the 12-year-old boy's wishes, and helped to enroll him in a local school.

"For vulnerable school-age children, we arrange for them to go back to school. For children eager to take up a professional skill, we arrange for them to learn driving or cooking," said Li Lianhe, director of the Aksu Centre. The Centre is a now key component of the community-based approach introduced by UNICEF. 

The centre provides a warm and friendly space with educational resources and recreational equipment. Together with local government partners, UNICEF has established two community-based centres for vulnerable children in Aksu.

Each facility is managed by a social worker who knows every child personally. Every weekday afternoon and all day on weekends, the children's centre is open for both parents and children. There are group activities for the children and regular talks on parenting. 

After attending a seminar on how to communicate with adolescent children, one mother said, "I used to have so many questions in my head about my children, now I know I can come to you for help." 

The community-based service model introduced by UNICEF is based on respect for the rights of all children. It employs a three pronged approach to address the problem of children on the street.

First, all families in the community are encouraged to take part in parenting education classes to improve family life. Second, for children at risk of taking to the street, professionally-trained social workers collaborate with schools and other government bureaus to monitor children's whereabouts and make sure the family is receiving social support. Third, returned children without parental care receive access to a set of integrated services including psycho-social support, vocational skills training, parenting support and more.

The new child rights based strategy is beginning to receive support from local government agencies. More importantly, it has stimulated greater cooperation and exchange among the local bureaus of justice, education, public security, social security, civil affairs together with members of the local community.  

Without improved cooperation between different government agencies dealing with children on the street, typically a high percentage of children fall back into high risk situations.

Wu Haipeng, of the Aksu Civil Affairs Bureau agreed, "thanks to UNICEF's initiation and coordination, we have established a working mechanism for vulnerable children in Aksu. It has proven to be effective."

A social worker in every community

Aidy was born to a very poor family. His father rarely had regular employment. At age 14 a family acquaintance recruited him for a job far away in Chengdu, Sichuan. 

There he was threatened with beatings if he did not learn the trade of a street thief. After seven months of petty criminal activity, Aidy grabbed the first opportunity to return home. He gave his stolen money to his parents, telling them it was earned from selling kebabs.

Li Lianhe's Rescue Centre is responsible for re-integrating Aksu children who have been found on the street. In the past it was not uncommon that children brought to his centre would return back to the streets.

"We recognized the same faces over the years," Li sighed.

"After UNICEF's program began in Aksu, these incidents have occurred less and less," he added. The comprehensive, rights based approach to supporting children deprived of parental care, is labor intensive. Each child requires special care and follow up. This can only be accomplished by trained social workers. 

Fewer Aksu children now take to the street. "Previously we were talking about hundreds of returned street children every year, but in the last two years, the number has decreased sharply to dozens," Li said. 

"We have come to realize the value of social workers. Every community should at least have one social worker in order to help street children," added Li.

"Hardly a dream"

Aidy's story of many twists and turns mirrors that of many children in the same situation.

After returning from Sichuan, his parents – unaware of what really happened the last time he had left home – urged him to leave again to find work. Unable to share his true story, Aidy left home, this time following a man he met in an internet café. The pair travelled to Tianjin and Beijing, where Aidy began stealing again to survive. Eventually he was caught and sent back to Urumqi by police.  

He was sentenced to one year in a detention centre for children in conflict with the law before he was finally referred to the Aksu Rescue Centre for Minors.  

"We could see he was in pain," said Yuan, his counselor at the Aksu Centre. "At the beginning he didn't trust anybody in the Centre, so he wouldn't talk." After some time his story began to emerge. 

"He wants to make money to support his sick mother, but he can only find manual jobs because he stopped going to school when he was 8 years old. We needed to offer him some kind of vocational training," Yuan said.

Driving lessons have given Aidy a new sense of hope. His father had been a truck driver and his desire to learn how to drive was so strong that he left a number of odd jobs in Urumqi to take up lessons in Aksu. He passed the first written test with flying colors.

In the past two years, more than three dozen young aspiring drivers like Aidy have been trained as a result of the new strategies supported by UNICEF.

Aidy is expected to become a qualified driver this summer. "It is hardly a dream," said Aidy, brimming with confidence in his future, "but I want to become a driver, earn enough money to help my mother recover from illness, and then put a down-payment on an apartment."