Abstract:

As the child protection function of modern families tends to weaken or even disappear, this paper focuses on how local government and social forces can carry out joint service and optimize the path of future synergy in the provision of welfare for the families with de facto unsupported children. Through the analysis of relevant policy documents, participation observation, semi-structured interviews and focus group interviews in the implementation of the policy to sum up the local assistance experience, the ecological system of care services for the families with de facto unsupported children is comprehensively sorted out from the perspective of ecological niche theory. This shows that the three main welfare supplying bodies, namely, government departments, group organizations, and social organizations, constitute the three main lines of the ecological chain, absorbing all kinds of social resources and transforming them into social services through two upward and downward linkage paths, namely, “cooperation between the government and society” and “synergy between the government and society”. Among them, professional social organizations are in the key ecological position, being the central core of various kinds of linkage work. Reporting is a core part of the linkage work, but further optimization of the collaboration mechanism is still needed. In the future, it will be necessary to strengthen the cultivation and development of professional social organizations, implement family empowerment services, manage ethical risks, promote the orderly linkage of social forces and the extensive incorporation of social resources, and improve the relevant child welfare policies and assessment mechanisms, so that we can enhance the well-being of the families with de facto unsupported children.

Key words: political and social forces, de facto unsupported children, family care and support, joint mechanism