Analyze the more specific strategies and practices of children in China; the Office of the Women's and Children's Working Committee of the State Council and UNICEF and relevant UN agencies advocate "child-friendly communities", aiming to build a child-friendly environment at the community level, including the corresponding institutional mechanisms To better achieve child development ...

From: Community World Issue 3, 2015

Childhood has an important impact on a person's life, and this is recognized both in the knowledge of ordinary people and in research in related disciplines. As the Chinese saying goes, "Three years old look young, seven years old look old." Some psychologists at home and abroad are concerned about the status of early child rearing, especially the impact of their relationship with their mothers on their emotional and personality development, and point out the importance of attachment relationships and the negative consequences of "deprivation of motherhood". Sociologists value the socialization process, and the education and environmental influences accepted by children and adolescents (mostly before the age of 18 as the internationally recognized age of children) as they grow into a “social person” To the role. On the other hand, social work, social policy and other areas emphasize the vulnerability of children, highlighting their greater dependence on the environment, including their status and situation more vulnerable to various risks and damage.

Although we cannot take the importance of childhood to people in absolute terms, we also agree that the environment that adults face later is more complex and that people have more self-selection and self-determination. However, it should be said that there are two aspects to the understanding of children. Point consensus exists. The first is that the survival and development status and quality of a child during his or her life will affect his or her life and quality more or less, including his or her existence and function as a member of society; the second is that children are more dependent on the surrounding environment. In the interaction and interaction with the environment, the environment is in a stronger position, and people (children) are more easily affected by the environment. These two points of consensus respectively lead to the two action orientations of social and public agencies when it comes to child-related matters. The first is to emphasize the importance of child development to the quality of the entire nation and the functioning and development of society, and to this end, we are committed to creating conditions to promote the development of children in all aspects, including better physical, psychological, moral and social development. This can be said to be the orientation of children's development. Second, it emphasizes children's vulnerability and environmental vulnerability, and strives to provide protection from environmental harm or adverse effects. This can be said to be the orientation of child protection. Of course, there is a connection between the two orientations. If the child protection orientation seems to be negative, but it is the basic prerequisite for child development, and by protecting the external factors that are not conducive to the healthy growth of children, it is conducive to children's better development according to their nature. It also has a positive meaning. In turn, the smoother and better the development of children, the better it will be to protect them from all kinds of injuries, thereby promoting better protection for children.

In many countries and regions in the world, the above consensus and action orientation are manifested to varying degrees. The UN has adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child to unify these consensus and action orientations in a comprehensive strategy based on children's rights, that is, the protection of children's rights around the four rights of children's right to survival, development, protection and participation. Strategy. In our country, the government has actually implemented and reflected these consensuses and action orientations through the child development program. The areas of "Children and Health", "Children and Education", "Children and Welfare", "Children and Social Environment", and "Children and Legal Protection" identified in the "Children's Outline" respectively reflect child development and child protection And seek to combine them in practical action. However, China ’s public policies and collective social actions in children also need to strengthen the awareness of “children ’s rights” because China is one of the first parties to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the newly revised “Minors The Protection Act also explicitly recognizes children's rights.

The question now is, although the country has clarified the basic action orientation and general strategy in children's affairs, how to implement and truly achieve the goal of better development and better protection for children? In reality, we see that there are still many problems in terms of child protection and child development. This shows that our specific action strategies and mechanisms may still have a lot of room for improvement.

With regard to child protection, how can children be more effectively protected from all kinds of human and environmental harm? Various cases have occurred in this regard in recent years, exposing our problems in this regard. Such cases may not be common in real life, but once they occur, they attract attention. Examples include cases of sexual assault, instances of violence or other abuse, negligent care. These problems are also related to children's accidental injuries. Generally, there are still some dangers or risks in children's physical, psycho-emotional and social security. It is particularly important to realize that even if the problem of child protection is small, the damage to children is very serious once it occurs. Therefore, it should be paid great attention.

In terms of children's development, how to meet the needs of children's physical and mental development so that they can achieve sound growth and development? On the surface, Chinese families and society attach great importance to the education and care of children. The state also attaches great importance to education, medical care, and the emphasis on child welfare in recent years. The development of children in China seems to be better. Environmental support. However, we can still find many shortcomings in this large area. For example, the issue of "left-behind children, migrant children, and homeless children", which has attracted much attention, has a lot of issues worthy of attention in the development of these groups of children affected by migration. In addition to these more special groups, there are still many unfavorable conditions in the physical, psychological, emotional, moral, and social development of the general child group, and some problems caused by it (such as extreme emotional and behavioral problems) It happens from time to time. It can be said that due to the huge number of children in our country, and the influence of complex factors such as culture and system, the challenges we face in terms of child development are huge.

Analyzing the more specific strategies and practices of children in China, we see that, first of all, families are still given outstanding subjective positions and roles, whether in child protection or child development. Secondly, the government pays more attention to child development, and relatively weakly protects children. These two characteristics have their historical, cultural, and physical causes, but they may not have adapted to the reality of China's social structure, nor are they in line with major trends and directions in related fields.

First of all, China ’s family structure has changed a lot. For various reasons, including the effects of large-scale and frequent population movements, in fact, the family ’s carrying capacity is seriously weakened. It is difficult to expect that increasingly smaller and more fragile families will now assume the leading role in child protection and even child development. This is not to say that families cannot continue to play one of these roles. In fact, most families will still be willing to work hard to play such a role. However, it is increasingly necessary for families to take on this role to receive external support. For example, in terms of child development, more specialized help is needed; in terms of child protection, legal and authoritative support is most needed.

Secondly, the government bears the important responsibility of protecting children's development at the basic policy level, including the protection of investment, which is not a problem in itself. However, it is increasingly unable to cope with the increasingly diverse and specialized needs of child development, and it is increasingly unable to respond well to the development of children with the increasing awareness of the subject, personality and rights of the people and families. More autonomous requirements. In fact, there is a process of democratization in this regard, and it is difficult to adapt to existing institutional practices. On the other hand, even though the government still needs to undertake relatively uniform basic guarantees, its specific guarantee process still needs diversified and specialized services, which is also difficult for the existing system to satisfy. In this respect, there is still a problem that it is difficult for the government department system to reach children and families, that is, the issue of access to guarantee services in the "last mile".

Thirdly, it is precisely in terms of child protection that the government is best suited to assume the main responsibility. Although the government has made various attempts and efforts in recent years to try to build mechanisms and models and weave a government-led protection network, in general, This aspect is still relatively weak. Because this protection involves strict legal issues, it must be undertaken by public authorities—although some of these links can involve other forces. There is an urgent need to clarify this issue as soon as possible.

It is precisely the above analysis that in the field of children's affairs in our country, strategies may need to be adjusted.

1. On the separation of family and government responsibilities, the government should assume more of the main role of child protection and the basic role of child development. The family still has basic responsibilities in child development and child protection, but more should be demand Player role.

2. Regarding the division of responsibilities between the government and social organizations and even market organizations, the government's role in child development is mainly to formulate policies, provide input guarantees, organize the production of related services, and supervise the provision of related services, and the main role of specific production and provision of services related to child development Should be transferred to social organizations and appropriate market organizations; the government should be the main body of child protection, specifically responsible for relevant protection duties, but some service links can be assisted by social organizations.

3. In the relationship between families and social organizations and market organizations, the family is a demander of related services. Social organizations, including appropriate market organizations, are service providers that respond to demand. Especially social organizations support families to meet child development and children through services. Need for protection.

What is the status and role of "child-friendly communities" among them?

In the simplest terms, child-friendly communities are a connecting point for implementing the new strategic mechanisms described above. It is in the community that the new division of labor between the government and the family is simultaneously connected, and that the government and the social organization and the market organization are both rationally and organically coordinated, and that the family and the social organization and the market organization are divided and cooperated. Situation. On the other hand, if we leave the community, the new strategic structure will still not be implemented, and the new situation of child protection and child development in China will not become a reality.

As early as a decade ago, the Office of the Women and Children's Working Committee of the State Council initiated a “child-friendly community” with UNICEF and relevant United Nations agencies, aiming to build a child-friendly environment at the community level, including the corresponding institutions and mechanisms, to better achieve Child development and child protection related goals. In this kind of advocacy, the community supports the child development and protection system of the organic connection between the government, social organizations, market organizations, and families through service facilities such as "Children's Homes", thereby promoting "child-friendly cities" or "child-friendly" The establishment of a "friendly village" eventually led to a "child-friendly society". It should be said that such a concept is reasonable. As more social forces participate together, it is also believed that it will gradually become a reality, thereby benefiting hundreds of millions of children and their families, as well as the entire society and the country. (The author is Chen Tao, Director and Professor of Social Work Research Center of China Youth University for Political Sciences)