Chinese policies on support for children and young people in state care, including children with disabilities, initially focused on the immediate questions of survival and material well-being. As the reach of the Chinese welfare state expanded, expectations on the state changed to include achieving more than these basic needs. The expectations have grown to include supporting young people in state care and other orphaned children living in the community to achieve their full citizenship rights, including expectations to live independently, out of state care, in their adulthood. Equally, state practices that accentuate the multiple dimensions of social exclusion of children in state care are now subject to criticism. Both these pressures are motivated not only by the interests and well-being of children and young people, but also by the practical questions of minimizing the state's lifetime responsibility for children in state care and other orphaned children in the community.

In this context, this chapter examines the formal policies of the central government, and four locations – Beijing, Shanxi, Xinjiang and Nanning – as examples of the types of support offered to young people in state care as they reach adulthood. Except for Beijing, the policies also cover other children who are orphaned and cared for in their extended family, as well as other young people with disabilities living with their families. The gap between these formal policies and the experience of young people is analysed further in later chapters.

Overview of welfare transition policies

Welfare available to children in state care covers basic living protection, care and protection, education, health care, therapy, adult placement, and housing. The policies on basic living protection are generally implemented in most locations. In addition to children in state care, in some areas, orphaned children in the care of their extended family also receive a monthly living allowance to meet their basic living costs.

Most children in state care live in institutions or foster care. The Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) has stipulated provisions to categorize which children are eligible for adoption, the funds for child adoption, the obligations to be fulfilled in the period of adoption, the prerequisites for foster families and the roles and responsibilities of foster care service providers, as described in Chapter Three.