Though our daily life has become more and more convenient with more recreations, according CWLF’s survey on 5th to 9th graders in Taiwan, students’ subjective life satisfaction scores have reached a new low in recent years. In 2017, the score was 79.2/100; however, when it came to 2020, it dropped by 6.5 points to 72.7/100. Children felt unsatisfied about their life in personal (poor diet, lack of exercise, lack of sleep, feeling lonely), family (lack of family support), and school (academic stress, lack of peer support) aspects. It was no surprise that children felt more and more unhappy about their life.

COVID-19 pandemic, which has been spreading across the globe for nearly three years now as its effect first showed in 2020, has brought severe impact to the world, but has it also aggravated difficulties on parenting? On the eve of Children’s Day, Child Welfare League Foundation (CWLF) published this year’s (2022) “Current Parenting Status & Post-Pandemic Family Playtime Trend Survey.” Per the survey, even though there are nearly 90% of parents with children younger than 6 years old who feel that parenting is satisfying, there are still more than half of the parents who feel “defeated (56%), stressed (53.6%).” The main reason that has caused parenting stress was not necessarily that parents “felt difficult to raise a child;” instead, it was that most parents have not adapted to the situation.

Child Welfare League Foundation (CWLF), and other organizations including Child Health Alliance Taiwan, Taiwan Pediatric Association, Taiwan Fund for Children and Families, and Raising Children Medical Foundation, along with cross-party legislators from the Child and Youth Rights Promotion Committee of Legislative Yuan, Wan-Yu Wang, Wan-An Chiang, Mei-Ling Loh, Chen-Yuan Chiu and Hung-An Kao, held a press conference on March 17th. The attendants collectively examined current fertility policies and called the Executive Yuan to establish a “Low Birthrate Response Unit”, so that implementation of low birthrate policies can be regularly monitored, the needs of parents will be responded as top priority, and comprehensive parenting support can be provided for the parents.

Child Welfare League Foundation (CWLF) was happy to lead a Circle of Learning event titled Prevalence Survey, Social Education and Advocacy on Corporal Punishment: A Case of Taiwan hosted by The International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect (ISPCAN). In this event, Li-Fang Pai, CEO of CWLF, and Chih-Hung Wu, Senior International Specialist of CWLF, closely examined corporal punishment (CP) issue in Taiwan with three different approaches: what are the existing CP policies and regulations in Taiwan, what the research told us, and what CWLF as a child-focused organization has done to prompt social changes.

In this generation of rapidly growing 4G and 5G internet speed, ubiquitous cellphone use seems to be also satisfying the everyday needs of digital natives. Data research, doing homework, recreational use - even social networking exists in the virtual world. According to CWLF survey, 66% of the children believe that, “It’s easier to make friends over the

After the COVID-19 pandemic pushed all levels of school to shift classrooms to online platforms in May, parents started to show concerns over their children’s online learning condition and the risk of getting Internet addiction. Some parents may also need to face reduced working hours or job losses. Still, these challenges would be magnified in the rural areas. CWLF conducted the “Online Learning and Living Conditions of Children in Rural Areas ” survey during the pandemic this year. It was found that in the rural areas, most families’ income reduced during the pandemic. Moreover, children needed to face challenges of access to digital device or Internet or lack of family support. Compared with children living in the cities with affluent resources, the urban-rural digital divide was alarming.

It was always sad to see child abuse incidents on news. Besides the wounds on children’s bodies, these adverse childhood experiences would cause long term harm on these children’s physical and mental health, even after they turned into adults. Since Center for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States published the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) study, the impact trauma creates on physical and mental health has drawn public attention. The ACEs study collected information from over 17,000 adults between 1995 and 1997. Respondents were asked ten questions relating their childhood experiences such as whether they were physically or sexually abused. One adverse experience counted 1 point. Each person’s final scores would be cross analyzed with their medical records. The results showed that respondents with higher ACEs scores had higher chances of getting heart diseases, liver diseases, cancer and depression. They were also more likely to experience issues such as obesity, substance abuse, social and emotional disorders, suicidal tendency, etc. Given to the possibility of cultural differences, we wondered what the results might be if the study was conducted in Taiwan. Therefore, CWLF also conducted an adverse childhood experiences survey on high schoolers in Taiwan. Through this survey, we hoped to understand the prevalence and effects of ACEs in Taiwan, seek ways to respond to trauma and prevent re-traumatization.

CWLF provides care for an average of 56 children in adoption program each month. However, it was discovered that fewer and fewer families came to CWLF to adopt lately. According to CWLF surveys, there were 2,322 calls inquiring about adoption in 2018, compared to 1,568 calls in 2020. The amount of calls has reduced more than 30% over the past three years. Fewer and fewer families register for adoption, which means it becomes more difficult for children in care to find a family.

CWLF Representative Attended Cross-Party Group Press Conference Hosted by Legislative Yuan Association for Child Rights | Call for Action to End Child Maltreatment | Propose Childcare Specialized Act (Civil Society Version)