Weaving a safety net for vulnerable children
Emotional deprivation is more severe than material poverty.
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Swiping through the photos of Zhang Xiaowei (not her real name), Liao Qiling reflected on the hardships the 14-year-old girl had faced.
Zhang's father was in his 70s when he died of Parkinson's disease and related complications. Her mother is unable to take care of her due to mental disabilities.
Before her father died, the family of three had spent years in a cramped hut in Renpo, a village in Lingshan County of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The family was so poor that there were only one bed and one desk in the hut.
The family's dilemma was compounded by the loss of Zhang's father, who was the only provider.
"The mother and daughter had been left stranded at that time," recalled Liao, the children's welfare director of Renpo.
Liao and other village officials reported Zhang's plight to the civil affairs bureau of Lingshan, which listed Zhang as a de facto orphan (or child lacking of parental care) that needed extra care and support.
Zhang and her mother later had their minimum living allowance increased by more than half to 350 yuan (about 52 U.S. dollars) per month for each person, the highest available to Guangxi's rural residents.
Zhang receives an additional 450 yuan of de facto orphan subsidy per month. Liao and other cadres, as well as local social organizations, periodically visit her and help.
The actions follow a guideline issued in May last year by 10 national authorities, including the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Education.
According to the guideline, each administrative village should have a children's welfare director to better take care of vulnerable children, including orphans, de facto orphans and those left behind by their migrant worker parents.
Lingshan County now has 411 such directors, covering all of its administrative villages.
The county is also included in a three-year child care and protection project launched last year by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
The project is piloted in eight counties, districts and a city in four provincial regions -- Ningxia, Jiangxi, Shandong and Guangxi.
CARE AND CONCERN
Lingshan, the third most populous county in Guangxi, has been a major area for sending migrants to the Pearl River Delta area, one of China's manufacturing hubs. It is estimated that some 400,000 people from Lingshan are working away from home as migrant workers.
"They leave their homes behind in the hope of making more money to renovate their old houses or build new ones, and to provide a better life for their children," said Liu Qin, head of the Lingshan County. "However, many children are left behind as a result."
Official statistics show that almost a third of the county's 1.68 million people are under the age of 18, of whom more than 15,000 are either left-behind children, de facto orphans, or orphans. "Caring for these children and protecting their rights has become a priority of our work," Liu said.
Children's welfare director Liao, 52, undertakes a partial role as a guardian for Zhang. She visits Zhang twice a week and helps attend to her mother while she is at school.
After a walk of 30 minutes back home from her boarding school every weekend, Zhang always expects a knock on the door from Liao. Together they chat about life chores, things like hygiene tips. They also talk about her future.
"I encourage her to study hard so that one day she can go to college and change her fate," Liao said.
Liao also takes the shy girl to volunteer activities to help her become more outgoing.
With the help of the local housing construction bureau, Zhang and her mother moved in June from their hut in disrepair into a new house, which was equipped with furniture donated by local charity organizations and individuals.
"The girl's mindset changed when her surroundings got better. I feel relieved that she has become more outgoing," said Liao.
Liao said what she did was no big deal, but the girl did not think so. "She's like a family member, because she always cares for me and my mom."
CONCERTED EFFORTS
The children's welfare directors are not the only ones to offer help. Social workers also play an important role in weaving a safety net for children in the villages.
Lian Ziyin, 13, usually rushes to a children's center after school in Yuanyan Village, also in Lingshan. There, she does handwork, reads books and attends group activities laid on by social workers from Xinyang Social Work Service Center.
The service center operates through government procurement of public services from non-governmental sectors. It dispatches social workers to give lectures in the children's centers on subjects ranging from environmental protection, painting and handcrafts to prevention of school bullying, drowning and sexual assault.
For left-behind children in Yuanyan, the children's center, with its books and sports facilities, is a place for knowledge and fun.
One of the frequent visitors to the center, Lian enjoys herself there when her parents are away.
Lian's parents both work at a factory in Shenzhen some 600 km away, earning a better income to support the family. While they are away, Lian lives with her grandparents in the village.
The girl visits Shenzhen during summer and winter vacations, helping her parents with household chores. But most importantly, it is a time of family reunion.
"I know they are working very hard to make my life better, but I really miss them."
But the vacations always seem so short. For Lian, the cultural center back at home is a place where she can relax and relieve the pressure.
"When I feel down, I go to the center and attend a class given by social workers. Then I leave with a big smile," she said.
There are more than 260 such centers in Lingshan County.
"The children's centers have become important places for left-behind children. When they have fun there, they can forget those unhappy things temporarily," said the county head Liu.
At times, it is difficult for village officials to manage the village affairs and also take care of the child-protection work, and this is when social workers, with their expertise, can play their part by teaching children how to protect themselves, Liu said.
Lao Chunyan, head of the county's civil affairs bureau, said that the roles of children's welfare directors and social workers are complementary and mutually supportive.
WAYS FORWARD
More institutions and departments in Lingshan have joined in the child-protection initiative.
With nearly 10 million yuan, the people's procuratorate of Lingshan established a legal educational center last year that combines crime prevention, legal education and care, with aim of boosting anti-crime work among juveniles.
"At present, legal education mainly focuses on after-the-fact instruction. We are trying to provide instruction prior to juvenile delinquency to reduce crime," said chief procurator Huang Yue.
Apart from visual displays explaining the consequences of drug abuse, which is a prominent problem in Lingshan, the educational center has set up four virtual reality (VR) facilities, where children can put on a VR headset to have an immersive experience of changes that the body undergoes after taking drugs.
The center also has a moot court, where children can play the roles of jurors and public prosecutors in a simulated trial, while the staff from the procuratorate are "defendants."
More assistance is now available to left-behind children and their families.
The county has renovated dilapidated houses for families with left-behind children. It has also implemented employment and industrial assistance to encourage parents of left-behind children to return home and work nearby.
"Emotional deprivation is more severe than material poverty," said Liu.
The county has built some 360 poverty alleviation workshops to help the parents settle down, and has also funded them in starting their own businesses, according to Liu.
Source: Xinhua
