SSW Doctoral Student Yangfeng Xu and SSW faculty members Charlotte Bright and Haksoon Ahn are co-authors of the recently published research "Responding to child maltreatment: Comparison between the USA and China" published in the International Journal of Social Welfare.
A recent study estimated that over one-fourth of Chinese children have suffered maltreatment (Fang et al., 2015). However, the current child welfare policy in China is limited to orphans, abandoned children, and children with disabilities. Also, there is very little comparative research in China on Chinese and other countries’ child welfare systems. The purpose of this study was to analyze applicable US and
Chinese child welfare policies, identify gaps in Chinese policy regarding child maltreatment, and make recommendations for a policy agenda for improving child welfare in China based on cultural values and existing policy structures. Results show that China has considerable capacity to make improvements in child protective services, foster care, and adoption policies. Based on the results of this study, several implications are provided to develop China’s child maltreatment policy to increase children’s outcomes of well-being, safety, and permanency.