Social Affairs Bureau of Taichung City Government has pushed out the active care program for disadvantaged children under 6 years old since the beginning of this year. As of March 31, 2015, our colleagues have visited 120 children in 117 disadvantaged families.

Children aged below 6 years old are not yet receiving official schooling. As most of them stay at home and it is difficult to detect if they are well taken care of, the Social Affairs Bureau of Taichung City Government has thus decided to take the initiative to push out the active care program for disadvantaged children aged 6 years old and below. Social workers from 9 social welfare service centers are assigned to visit all the kids aged 6 and below living in low-income families or families that have not covered by the national health insurance (NHI) system in Taichung City. It is hoped to offer them necessary care in time.

The active care program put into practice during the period between January and March 31 has produced some good results. We have visited 120 children in 117 families to show our care for their psychological and physical conditions, their growing environments, their family economic status, and how they are taken care of by parents. Because of the visits, we were able to provide them with emotional support for 148 person times, financial aids for 27 person times, early treatment and education resource links for 4 person times, material supplies for 24 person times, welfare counseling for 87 person times, follow-up high-risk assessment for 5 person times, and linkage to continual services for 8 person times, said the Social Affairs Bureau.

According to an analysis made in 2012 to 2014, the top three reasons for high-risk family problems are: financial difficulties, weak family support systems, and misconduct or negligence of caregivers. In other words, the economically disadvantaged families are prone to become high-risk families, if they do not receive appropriate assistance. Thus, the Social Affairs Bureau has decided to visit 3,000 households this year to ensure that disadvantaged children aged below 6 years old are receiving comprehensive care.