China News Service, September 23. On September 23, the State Council Information Office held a press conference on promoting high-quality development of civil affairs during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. Hu Haifeng, deputy minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, introduced at the meeting that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, my country has made great progress in the welfare of children in need. The system and mechanism have been further improved, the service targets have been further expanded, the level of care has been further improved, the work position has been further consolidated, and a care service system for migrant children and left-behind children has been initially established, which effectively and efficiently protects the legitimate rights and interests of children in need.
During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, we will continue to make efforts in the following aspects:
The first is to strengthen the system and continuously improve supporting policies and measures around the implementation of the "Opinions on Further Strengthening the Welfare and Protection of Children in Distress" issued by the General Office of the State Council. Consolidate existing systems such as basic living security for orphans and de facto unsupported children, care services for left-behind children, and equal access to basic public services for migrant children in their place of residence, and accelerate the establishment of new systems such as care services for autistic children and child family guardianship assessment. In addition, we will accelerate the development of standards for institutional management, guardianship guidance, etc., promote industry standards to become national standards, and actively participate in the construction of international standards.
Secondly, strong service. On the basis of steadily improving the basic security level, we will promote the construction of a "material + service" diversified supply pattern so that children can not only have enough to eat and wear warmly, but also receive necessary support in terms of mental health, personal safety, and rights protection. For example, in response to the mental health problems of children in distress, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, together with relevant departments, has formulated and issued the "Guidelines for the Identification and Assessment of the Mental Health Status of Children in Distress". During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, it will work with relevant departments to jointly implement the "Special Action Plan to Comprehensively Strengthen and Improve the Mental Health Care Service Capabilities of Children in Distress" and strive to use three years to improve the "early detection and early intervention" protection system.
The third aspect is strong supply. At present, there are two types of specialized children's service places in the civil affairs department: child welfare institutions and minors rescue and protection institutions. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, for child welfare institutions, the Ministry of Civil Affairs will further promote "opening the hospital", that is, providing services to sick and disabled children outside the hospital within its capabilities, so that more children in need can share institutional resources; for minors' rescue and protection institutions, it will continue to promote "expansion and efficiency" to provide more children and their families in need with high-quality and efficient services such as crisis intervention, temporary care, return placement, growth and development and other related services.
The fourth aspect is a strong team. Currently, there are 42,000 township (street) child supervisors and 550,000 village (community) child directors across the country, basically achieving full coverage. They are strong guardians who serve children, especially children in need. In the next step, the Ministry of Civil Affairs will strengthen standardization and professionalization, and incorporate mental health identification, safety risk screening, mandatory reporting systems, visits and care, etc. into compulsory training courses to make them essential skills. At the same time, it will explore the establishment of a subsidy system and an incentive and restraint mechanism to truly enable this team to be stable, well-used, and perform well.
