Addressing The Challenge Of Building A Child Protection System In China

In recent years, an endemic problem of child abuse became more evident in Chinese media reports. Particular, shocking cases-such as that of a drug-addicted mother in Nanjing leaving her two young children at home, ultimately resulting in their deaths from starvation-have pushed scholars and the public to reflect on the nature and efficacy of the existing child protection system in China.Currently, China does not have a fully-developed child protection system. Various deficiencies exist, including unclear delineation of parental responsibilities, vagueness in the legal definition of the relevant acts, the absence of any reporting system, and a lack of targeted remedial measures, render what regulation does exist in the Chinese Constitution and the Protection of Minors Law insufficient to protect children’s rights. With the goal of improving the current status quo, Chinese scholars have undertaken analysis of domestic law and additional comparative analysis, which has resulted in a number of policy recommendations. During the literature review process, this article identifies three flaws in the current Chinese literature, and paper attempts to address these defects.Comparative analysis undertaken by Chinese scholars has exhibited a degree of arbitrariness in its choice of cases; most of the cases are offered up in comparison to cases in developed countries, such as the United States (U.S.), Australia and Norway. Furthermore, the choice of cases is generally not made on the basis of well-articulated comparative categories, therefore resulting in the arbitrariness of the scholars’ conclusions. Accordingly, this paper introduces an internationally acknowledged typology for child protection systems, namely, the child protection model and the family service model. By choosing the U.S. and Norway as comparators, this discussion incorporates examples that are deemed to be typical representations of these two models.Comparative studies undertaken by domestic scholars also arguably lack depth due to their failure to explore the formative origins of child protection systems in different countries. This paper therefore attempts to elucidate the dynamic development of the U.S. and Norwegian systems, incorporating the reforms and changes that occurred at different stages. This enables a more nuanced understanding of the institutional circumstances under these two systems were created.Policy recommendations offered by Chinese scholars based on comparative findings drawn from developed countries are not necessary justifiable or applicable in a China context. Most Chinese scholars have made recommendations that are essentially based on the models already found in developed countries. Following thorough analysis of the systems in the U.S. and Norway, however, this paper argues that China does not exhibit analogous economic, social, cultural and political conditions; experiences from developed countries cannot therefore simply be transplanted to China. To deal with this problem, this article focuses on other developing countries-India, South Africa, Brazil and Russia-which arguably possess more similar socio-economic characteristics to China. After carrying out comparative analysis of these countries’ child protection systems, this paper offers practical recommendations tailored to a China context. While this paper acknowledges the importance of establishing a developed child protection system in China, it also follows the premise that such a system is established by means of a context-dependent process. Therefore, it is posited that China should build up its own domestic child protection system in line with the development of society.