Ministry of Civil Affairs: China's standard of living subsidies for centralized support for orphans and scattered orphans is much higher than that of other insured groups

The Information Office of the State Council is scheduled to hold a press conference at 10:00 a.m. on September 17, 2021 (Friday), at which Minister of Civil Affairs Li Jiheng, Vice Minister Gao Xiaobing, Vice Minister Wang Aiwen, and Vice Minister Zhan Chengfu introduced the work of solidly doing a good job in laying the foundation for civil affairs in an all-round well-off manner, and answered reporters' questions. China.com live broadcast, the following is the transcript:

Photo: China Net Dong Ning

Cover Reporter:

In recent years, the central government has introduced a series of policies and measures to strengthen child welfare work, and has made arrangements for the care and protection of special children groups such as orphans, de facto unsupported children, and rural left-behind children. What achievements has the Ministry of Civil Affairs made in promoting the protection of orphans and de facto unsupported children? What has been done to carry out the care and protection of left-behind children in rural areas? What more will be done?

Vice Minister of Civil Affairs Gao Xiaobing:

Thank you for your caring child welfare work. Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, we have conscientiously implemented the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions on the whole society to have a benevolent heart and love for children, especially orphans and disabled children, and vigorously promoted the development of child welfare, and achieved good results. In terms of orphan protection, in 2019, the local standard of central financial subsidies for the basic living security expenses of orphans was increased by 50%. Just now, Minister Li told everyone about the standard of living subsidies for orphans and scattered orphans, which is far higher than other guaranteed groups, reflecting the care of the party and the state for children, especially orphans. In the face of the phenomenon that there are more disabled children among orphans, we launched the "Tomorrow Plan" to rehabilitate these children, investing a total of 1.7 billion yuan in welfare lottery public welfare funds, benefiting more than 220,000 orphans, so that these orphans can be recovered to the greatest extent, can be self-reliant and can integrate into society. At the same time, in view of the situation of orphans being admitted to secondary schools, colleges, universities and graduate schools, we have also launched the "Orphan Assistance Project", which provides 270 million yuan of funds every year to subsidize orphans to go to school and support them to continue their studies.

This is a particularly special group of de facto unsupported children, who nominally have parents, but in reality they do not receive parental love. In a way, they are not orphans, but they are like "orphans". In 2019, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, together with 12 departments, issued a policy to allow children who are unsupported in these facts to enjoy the same treatment as the living security standards of orphans, so that these children can be raised in a timely manner. The introduction of this policy can be said to fill a gap in the child welfare system, which is a very popular system and a highly targeted system that solves practical problems.

In terms of the care and protection of left-behind children, there are currently 56,000 child supervisors and 675,000 child directors serving left-behind children. We have held a series of activities to care for and help these children, and also promoted the introduction of policies related to left-behind children into construction sites and villages (residences) for publicity, benefiting left-behind children and their parents. At present, orphans, de facto unaccompanied children, left-behind children and other children are working together to enter a well-off society in an all-round way.

As everyone knows, the State Council has set up a leading group for the protection of minors, and the office is located in the Ministry of Civil Affairs. In the next step, the Ministry of Civil Affairs should play a good role in coordination and supervision, promote the introduction of cross-departmental and cross-field relevant plans, systems, and methods, and further meet the needs of the protection of minors. In view of the rising proportion of disabled or severely disabled orphans, promote the high-quality development of child welfare institutions, and build them into child welfare institutions that integrate parenting, treatment, rehabilitation, education and social work. At the same time, we will promote the dynamic growth of living subsidies for orphans and de facto unsupported children in accordance with the level of economic development, and we will continue to care for left-behind children, establish a four-level care and protection network at the city, county, township and village levels, and do these work more solidly.