Context of young people leaving care in China

In the 1980s, the mortality rate and living conditions of children in Chinese state child welfare institutions shocked the world through the BBC documentary film The dying room . Many orphaned children, mostly healthy girls, who were living in state child welfare institutions died of poor care or inadequate medical treatment. At that time, the death rate was 50–80% in some welfare institutions.

The documentary triggered strong reactions from child welfare organizations throughout the world, as well as from the Chinese government. The state changed the policy to allow donations to the welfare institutions and permitted domestic and international adoption. The state also increased funding for children's welfare institutions. Some institutions in poorer cities already had a history of foster care. Now, in response to public concern, other major cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, also began to accept the internationally recognized benefits of family-based foster care as a better alternative to institutional care.

These efforts of international organizations and the Chinese government have since radically improved the way in which state care in China operates. Changes in policy, funding and alternative care types substantially changed the care of children who are in the guardianship of state welfare institutions. This book is about that first generation of children and young people who grew up in Chinese state child welfare institutions after the scandal of The dying rooms. It explores their childhood experiences, their transition to adulthood and how these experiences affect their adult life.

According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA, 2013a), China had about 615,000 Chinese children aged under 18 years whose parents had died or could not be found in 2012. They included 109,000 children in the guardianship of child welfare institutions operated by civil affairs departments, and over 500,000 children raised by relatives, other guardians, other people or non-governmental organizations. It is estimated that roughly 20% of the children and young people in state care are aged over 16 years old (MCA, 2013b), with about 10,000 orphaned young people reaching adulthood each year. In this book, we generally refer to them as young people in state care, rather than orphans, because their circumstances are often that their families cannot be found rather than they have died (Heaser, 2016).