Research On Family Support Dilemma And Support Policy Of Disabled Elderly Under The Background Of Family Modernization

Along with the advent of the "silver wave" in China,the problems of the disabled and aging have emerged one after another.How to effectively deal with the pressure and challenges of long-term care brought by disability will be an important issue in the process of aging society governance.Currently,on the premise that the socialized elderly service system is not yet complete,family is an essential field for the elderly with disabilities,and family members mainly including children and spouses play a key role in providing care for the elderly.However,in the context of family modernization,family structure is becoming more discrete and smaller,the concept of elderly care is loosening,the shortage of family support of caring,and the combination of many factors makes the risk and burden of family pension surge.At the same time,due to the lack of support from external policies,families are forced to act as "intermediaries" between individuals and the state,and the vulnerability of families with insufficient resources and missing networks is obvious.In the face of such challenges,a considerable number of countermeasure studies have pinned the breakthrough of the family aging dilemma on the development of socialized elderly care services to reduce the burden on families,while allowing the forces of modernization to continue to erode and wear down the security function of the family.The studies that focus on family elderly care support policies for the disabled are still confined to the "individual elderly",equating the problems of family elderly care with the problems of the disabled elderly,and the research from the perspective of family is relatively lacking.Due to the lack of a "family perspective",most of the studies have generally analyzed Chinese families as a homogeneous whole,neglecting the interaction among family members and the soft environment such as the willingness to care,family atmosphere and family culture.In view of the limitations of current research and practice in solving the aging crisis of disabled elderly families,it is urgent for theory and reality to explore an institutional optimization path that is suitable for China’s national conditions based on policy reflection.This study absorbs the views of structural-functional theory and family modernization theory,and adopts a qualitative research approach to study 42 cases of disabled elderly family support in city C of J province.Based on the analysis of the realistic representation of the elderly with disabilities,the study uses the AGIL analysis framework to analyze the endogenous and exogenous causes of the elderly with disabilities in four dimensions: economic system,political system,legal system,and cultural system.The study seeks to break the existing policies’ obsession with "implicit familism" and provide more systematic,operational and targeted policy recommendations to restore and enhance the function of family protection and promote the healthy development of families.In the context of family modernization,there is still a high demand for family care for the disabled elderly in urban and rural areas,but the weakening of family care function cannot be ignored.First,the long-term care for the disabled elderly requires expensive "explicit costs" and "implicit costs",resulting in an excessive economic burden on the family and a weakening of the family economic support function.Secondly,caring for the disabled elderly is time-intensive,labor-intensive,and requires high professionalism in care,which puts heavy physical and psychological pressure on family caregivers and weakens the family’s life care function.Finally,due to the lack of understanding of the mental health needs of the disabled elderly and the single means of comforting them,the family’s spiritual support function is lacking.On the other hand,outside the family,although the state vigorously promotes the construction of socialized elderly care services in an attempt to reduce the burden of elderly care on families.However,the service content,quality and philosophy of home care and institutional care are far from being a quality alternative to family care,and they do not provide effective support to family care.Deeply explore the cause of the dilemma of family care for the disabled elderly is that modernization has triggered internal changes in the family system and the lack of external policy support for families.From the perspective of the family system,firstly,the change of fertility concept and large-scale population migration have increased the difficulty and spatial and temporal distance of family care,and the resource protection function of family has decreased.Secondly,the reversal of power status after the offspring becomes the head of the family and the competing sibling relationships have triggered mutual shirking and conflicts among family members in terms of their elderly care responsibilities,shaking the foundation of family authority protection.Thirdly,in the expanded family reproduction model,family ethical relations have shifted to "children first" and the elderly have become "structural surplus",resulting in the decline of the institutional protection function of the family.Finally,the blood and kinship ties obscured by monetary interests,and the dilution of the filial values of "being able to support" and "respect and love" have weakened the normative protection of the family.From the outside of the family system,firstly,the policy idea limited to the extremely poor elderly and poor families makes the economic support lack of effectiveness.Secondly,under the homogeneous governance model,the boundary of responsibility between the state and the family is in a state of oscillation,and the family does not become the subject of the right to policy support.Thirdly,due to the lack of a holistic approach to governance,relevant policies and regulations are seriously fragmented and not systematic and mandatory enough,leading to the suspension of policy implementation and difficulties in implementation.Finally,due to the stereotypical values of traditional gender division of labor,the value of family care work is overshadowed by ethics and "filial piety" and is not recognized and valued.Due to the combined effect of internal and external causes of the family system,family caregiving for the disabled elderly is in a difficult situation.Based on the above analysis,this study should rethink and adjust the response to the problem of family care for the disabled elderly and rethink the overall arrangement of family care support policy for the disabled elderly.It is necessary to clarify the principle of governance that the government and multiple welfare entities are responsible for each other,the principle of relationship that multiple elderly care methods complement each other,the principle of "re-familization" welfare that affirms the importance of family,and the principle of gender that men and women share the responsibility of family care.The purpose of optimizing and improving the family elderly support policy system is to effectively enhance the sense of access and the well-being of the elderly,promote the stability of family structure,and provide relief for family caregivers,and to restore the welfare protection function of the family.In the future,to improve the family elderly support policy for the disabled elderly,we should focus on the family as a whole and realize the effective improvement of family development capacity through diversified policy support means.Family development capacity refers to the comprehensive ability of families to meet the survival and development needs of family members in the midst of social changes,while maintaining their own stability,coping with risks and achieving family reproduction.It is not only the "basic capacity" to maintain the family’s own functional supply and family members’ needs,but also the "endogenous power" to achieve family development.To promote the optimization of the policy path of family support for the disabled elderly with the orientation of family development capacity,we should pay attention to the improvement of the four capacities of family risk resistance,family autonomy,family reproduction capacity and family cohesion.First,improve the support policy of "supplementing individuals" and "supplementing families",and gradually increase the financial subsidies.Second,to accurately identify the differentiated family capacity and family needs,and implement a combination of "special" and "universal" support policies.Third,by building a family-friendly legal environment,strengthening the top-level design of policies,integrating the government’s internal linkage mechanism,and clarifying the relationship between the rights and responsibilities of multiple welfare entities.Fourth,it reconstructs the concept of filial culture in the new era,promotes the modern transformation of traditional filial culture,and attaches importance to the construction of family ethics supported by filial culture.Through the optimization of the above-mentioned support policies,the disabled elderly can "return to their families when they retire,and socialize their old age when they enter".At the same time,by regaining the family element in social policies,families will be given more autonomy of choice and more adequate protection.