From July 2007, Care for Children and its official Chinese partner the China Social Work Association will expand their original project agreement from 15 foster care project sites to 30, covering a total of 27 provincial administrative regions in China.
According to Care for Children, this expansion has been approved by China's Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Long-term foster care enables orphaned and abandoned children to enjoy family life with ordinary families in China from the community who are willing to raise the children as their own. Care for Children has been working on Chinese local and national government led initiatives since 1998, and says it has seen thousands of children's lives transformed as they move into a family for the first time.
While long-term foster care and adoption are similar, Care for Children says they are fundamentally different in that through foster care, the child remains in the jurisdiction of the local authorities. This allows for various government-funded support initiatives to assist the foster parents.
Care for Children is a registered Charity with tax free status in China, UK & USA, and is shaped by the conviction that the long-term benefit to children of loving in a family of their own is of primary concern. This is achieved through the training of social workers and orphanage staff, based on robust professional standards, in a programme that can be applied across the country.
