Orphans into loving foster families in China

As you may know, Care for Children’s first project was in China, launched back in 1998. All our subsequent projects owe a lot to the success of this original project.

In 1996 the Chinese government invited Dr Robert Glover to become an advisor on childcare. Drawing on his experience in children’s social care in the UK, Dr Glover proposed the implementation of family care to ensure that children could still be cared for in a family even when they were unable to live with their birth parents. 

Systemic Change 

From 1998 Care for Children supported the Chinese government to transition from an institutional care system to a family care model. The government took on the responsibility for implementing family care, while Care for Children provided consultation and training, empowering government staff to ensure the quality and sustainability of the project. Care for Children also provided technical support and seed funding in the way of government-matched family allowances (50%) to build models of best practice and design and deliver a national family care training programme. This empowered the government to enact legislative support for family care. In 2014 the government issued “National Regulations for Family Care” which required institutions to offer family care to any child who was suitable for family placement, indicating a permanent change in child welfare practice in favour of family care initiatives. 

Redistribution of funds 

In China, funding for children in care was originally only provided directly to institutions. As family care flourished, institutions started to pay families an allowance and more children were placed in families. The government recognised that by running family care projects, institutions were saving public money while providing children with a better service. Over 50% of governmental funding for children in care is now used to pay family allowance and family support. 

Training 

Over 5,000 Chinese government officials, institution directors, family care workers, social workers and families have been trained by Care for Children. Furthermore, Care for Children’s training-of- trainers approach has enabled staff in institutions to train other institutions. 

Expansion 

Our work in China has meant that a generation of vulnerable children have been placed into stable and loving families. As a result of this success in China, Care for Children has accepted further government invitations to launch projects to introduce family care as a positive alternative to institutional care in a number of countries in Asia.