Quality Care and Development for Orphans and Children with Disabilities in China

Orphans and Children with Disabilities Project, China
May 5, 2009

There are 573,000 orphans or children without parental care in China, many of them living with disability. Roughly 495,000 of these children live in the rural areas and only 66,000, or 11.5 per cent of the total orphan population, are under the care of the State Child Welfare System. The majority of orphans live with their relatives (78.5 per cent). Others receive care from non governmental and charity organizations (1.3 per cent), while still others live with non-relatives or become street children (8.7 per cent). Most foster homes are low income families (202,000 children are living in low income families and do not receive any assistance from the state) that cannot meet children’s needs in basic care and education. For most orphans who live with disabilities, insufficient treatment and rehabilitation services are available.

The existing State Child Welfare System is unable to meet orphaned children’s needs because 1) the capacity of the country’s 224 child welfare institutions is limited and only care for 31,839 children; 2) there are no qualified social workers to work with children in the current child welfare system, as there are no universities or training programs that train or certify social workers specializing in child protection; and 3) no effective monitoring and evaluation system has been established to track the welfare and development of children living outside the child welfare system.

There are approximately 20 million children with disabilities in China, only 2 per cent of whom have access to special education that can meet their needs. Children with disabilities, especially in the rural area and particularly girls, face a great level of discrimination and do not have access to education, health, and other basic services. According to the China Federation for People with Disabilities, although China’s overall school enrolment rate is 99 per cent, only 75 per cent of children with disabilities are enrolled in school. In rural areas, many children with disabilities are confined in their households by their parents, and many schools refuse to admit children with disabilities. The quality of education for children with disabilities in regular schools is compromised, because schools often cannot provide facilities and instruction to meet their special needs; teachers are not trained to accommodate the varied learning needs of children with disabilities; and children with disabilities are not prepared with required social and learning skills.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs is implementing a nation-wide campaign, the Blue Sky Project, to build the capacity of state-run child welfare institutions (orphanages), and to transform these agencies into child protection resource centres that are open to communities and provides services to children both inside and outside the institutions. However, the project is very focused on physical infrastructure. The entire child welfare system in China lacks effective skills and management training to care and service providers who work directly with children, and lacks technical knowledge on 1) holistic development to children without parental care, and 2) physical treatment to children with disabilities integrated with child development services.

The goal of the program is to create an environment that is conducive to the holistic development of orphans and children with disabilities. The program will achieve the following specific objectives:

• Objective 1 - To help children living with disabilities access effective treatment, rehabilitation, and development;
• Objective 2 - To ensure orphans have access to quality care and upbringing;
• Objective 3 - To strengthen the capacity of child welfare institutions and families to provide integrated care for orphans and children living with disabilities.

Right To Play works at all levels, from children, local government agencies and NGOs to central government agencies in China, to bring sustained systematic change using well-designed, practical, and cost-effective sport and play programming. In terms of customized implementation strategies, Right To Play works with existing local organizations, agencies, or government bodies, who affect the lives of children. The existing structures, systems, plans, and operations of implementation organizations are taken into account when Right To Play adapts its tools and resources to enhance existing programming.

Right To Play works with its partners by

i) promoting child-centred sport and play tools and methodology;
ii) promoting participatory methodology in the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of sport and play-based programs;
iii) impact-focused programming integrated with policy and field-based research;
iv) identifying innovative, replicable, and cost-effective solutions and operation models;
v) building the capacity of government agencies and local peer NGOs to efficiently enlarge the choices of and education to children, drawing from global Sport for Development best practices and experiences;
vi) facilitating the establishment of partnerships in child participation, education and protection among government agencies, civil society, communities, and families.

The program will work at two levels - at the national level to establish national standards and create policy impact by working with the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Social Welfare and Charity Development Division; and at the community level to provide direct child development and treatment services to orphans and children with disabilities by partnering with one orphan program in Sichuan and three public child welfare institutions in Shanxi, Henan, and
Guangxi.

To Read More Go To:
http://rtpca.convio.net/site/DocServer/PSD_China_Disability_and_Orphans_May_2009.pdf?docID=12562
Right To Play - Orphans and Children with Disabilities Project, China