Safeguarding vulnerable children in China during COVID-19 and beyond: an integrated approach to social protection and social governance

The COVID-19 pandemic in China has triggered an unprecedented crisis that has had an extensive economic and social impact beyond a simple public health emergency. The social protection system served to mitigate the adverse consequences of the pandemic and to reset the country’s socio-economic development agenda. This chapter analyses the negative impact of the pandemic on vulnerable children. It synthesises relevant social protection measures that have been implemented to reduce children’s vulnerabilities, including basic medical services, cash and in-kind assistance, and child protection services. These measures have been integral to China’s overall response to the pandemic and are embedded in the country’s unique governance system. The interdependence between, and mutual reinforcing of, social protection and social governance lays a solid foundation for China’s pandemic containment strategies. This chapter concludes with a brief discussion of the implications of China’s experience for developing social protection in the post-pandemic era.