Lixin county, east China's Anhui province, has relied on community resources and social workers to establish a sound network providing welfare services for left-behind children.

A volunteers teaches left-behind children to paint on eggs in an activity held for these children in Lixin county on Nov. 27, 2020. (Photo/ bz.wenming.cn)

Lixin, a former national-level poverty-stricken county, is home to 1.75 million people, nearly half of whom are migrant workers. As a result, the problem of left-behind children in rural areas is prominent. As of the first quarter of this year, out of the 203,000 children in Lixin county, more than 20,000 were left behind in rural areas.

In order to reach out to every child in need, the county set up a child protection service system, with a children's home being built in every village.

An official with Lixin county revealed that in order to normalize protection for rural left-behind children and relief work for children with financial difficulties, a county-level child welfare guidance center has been set up. Relying on the county-level child welfare center as well as township child welfare workstations, a child protection director has been designated for each village to bring about full coverage of the child protection service system.

"We require every village child protection director to carry out relevant activities at the children's home at least once a week, focusing on the promotion of child welfare policies,” said Yan Lin, director of the civil affairs bureau of Lixin county, adding that the director visits ordinary children once a year and children in need of special attention once a month to better understand the living and learning conditions of left-behind children.

Furthermore, social forces are also being guided to provide assistance for left-behind children. "There are a lot of social workers and volunteers who care about me and my family, so my life has become more colorful, and I understand my responsibilities," said a left-behind boy nicknamed Shuaishuai, who receives financial assistance and psychological counseling from volunteers on a regular basis.

In addition to establishing the assistance and protection system for the left-behind children in rural areas as well as improving it, Lixin county has also established a dynamic arrangement and discovery system.

In each township, it is made clear that the Party committee secretary of the township, the mayor of the township, the person in charge of civil affairs and the director of the civil administration office are responsible for the assistance and protection of the local left-behind children. Meanwhile, the village officials lead the child protection team, and the village cadres participate in the entire process.

During the process, the status of local left-behind children and children in need are investigated once a quarter. At the end of each investigation, the information will be collected for the township civil affairs office, and files will be established for each village to clarify the relief measures and assistance contacts.

"According to the results of a comprehensive investigation, the township civil administration offices can carry out relief work in a targeted manner, so as to ensure that there are people in charge of child relief work and have measures to promote it," explained Yan.

Yan also revealed that currently, Lixin county has established a database on the basic situation of rural left-behind children and continuously improved it, and has also constructed a vertical information-sharing working system.