China's care system holds hope for Aussie orphans

A groundbreaking study by researchers from the University of New South Wales has shone a light into China's foster care system, revealing a sustainable welfare program that could show Australia's faltering care system a new way forward. Representing more than a decade's research on China's welfare system, the book, Caring for Orphaned Children in China, by a team from the UNSW's Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC), has shown a high-quality solution for Australia. Early intervention has been a by-word in Australia to prevent neglect or abuse in the hope that it would also make it easier for children who have been repeatedly removed from their families to be adopted. While the state of New South Wales is bringing in laws to make it easier for foster parents to adopt, and the Northern Territory chief minister Adam Giles has backed early, permanent intervention, Jeremy Sammut from the Centre for Independent Studies said Friday when it comes to intervention, the earlier the better. "We don't do enough to remove children early enough, so they end up having really high needs, not being able to live in a normal foster home,"he said. But when the system is failing, co-authors Associate Professor Xiaoyuan Shang and Associate Professor Karen Fisher have provided concrete examples of how the experiences of orphans are changing in China, and that a mixed welfare system, where state provision supplements family and community care, is an effective policy direction for orphans. Associate Professor Fisher said international media coverage of orphans in China is "dated and ill-informed"and neglects new government policies toward foster care in various parts of the country. "One of the international scandals that people think about when they think of China is the one-child policy, which has generated stories both true and false about orphans,"said Fisher. "There is definitely international ignorance surrounding the treatment of orphans in China that is used to justify international adoptions. Adoption and foster care within China, where children can maintain their identity, is a better option for children and is already well organised." Foster care is one of the best forms of alternative care in China and is recognized by UN Guidelines as a preferred method of care. "Foster care families in China are subject to rigorous recruitment requirements, are supported financially and offered professional support -- these are the sort of arrangements that Australia yearns for,"said Associate Professor Shang. The SPRC conducted the first national research project on alternative care for orphans in China in 2001. Commissioned by UNICEF and the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the research demonstrated significant improvements for children living with foster families rather than in an institution. As a result, 20,000 orphans nationwide were moved from institutions and placed in foster care families. By comparison, agencies in Australia have described the foster care system as one in crisis which could collapse within five years unless it undergoes a dramatic overhaul. Australians seeking to take in foster children has plummeted in recent years. Sandie de Wolf from Berry Street, an NGO that has been running for more than a century, has said that the pressure on the Australian system is huge. "The number of children who have been removed from their parents because they can't live safely at home across Australia has increased by 27 percent over the last five years, so nearly 40, 000 children," she said. "The availability of foster carers has decreased as that number has increased. It's really struggling," de Wolf added. Fisher said good foster care programs allow children to go to school, get the therapy and medical attention they need and grow up in their own community. "These are things any Australian parent would automatically expect for their child and yet our foster care system is failing at this dismally,"said Fisher. "With the research advice of Dr Shang, China is now establishing a child welfare system to protect all vulnerable children -- Australia needs to learn from China's experience of establishing sustainable, quality foster care programs,"she said. "The best way a child can grow up is surrounded by their own culture and identity with the support of a family and their own community."