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A report by UNSW’s Social Policy Research Centre has exposed the large number of unassisted orphans in China and prompted unprecedented change in Chinese government policy.
Commissioned by Save the Children UK, the report’s findings have seen the government fund a new comprehensive program that will provide free health care and free education to orphans.
"There are more than half-a-million orphans in China as a result of industrialisation, HIV/AIDS, road accidents and child abandonment. Most live in rural areas that have, until now, had no comprehensive social policies designed to meet their needs," SPRC Research Fellow and chief investigator, Xiaoyuan Shang, said.
"To finally see the Chinese government actively shoulder its responsibility to protect children’s rights is a remarkable turnaround in policy. This is the most dramatic boost in orphans’ welfare since the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949."
With the support of an ARC linkage grant, researchers from Beijing Normal University and Save the Children UK’s office in China, Shang began two research projects in 2004 – to map the number of orphans in China, and to assess the costs required to support them.
"While no comprehensive social assistance existed, we found two-thirds of orphans received financial assistance through programs including urban minimum income subsidies and rural assistance schemes for the extremely poor, such as the ‘WuBao’ system. Unfortunately in rural areas none of the existing programs adequately covered a child’s most basic needs and one-third of orphans were receiving no regular assistance at all."
In late 2005, China’s President Hu Jintao, officially acknowledged the situation. Earlier this year the Ministry for Civil Affairs drafted the new policy and the government has now begun implementing it. It includes living assistance, education, medical care, employment, housing and legal rights.
Professor Peter Saunders, Director of the SPRC, was the fellow chief investigator on the project.
*Xiaoyuan Shang and SPRC Acting Director Professor Ilan Katz, along with partners Save the Children UK, have recently been awarded an ARC grant to develop an effective system of child protection in China.
Note: Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) - http://www.sprc.unsw.edu.au/
Author: Alex Clark, UNSW Media Unit
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Last Updated: February 26, 2008