Child protection is an urgent global priority. In addition to working closely with domestic partners to support children and families across Taiwan, the Child Welfare League Foundation (CWLF) actively collaborates with like-minded international organizations to strengthen knowledge exchange and advance global advocacy for child protection.

CWLF is proud to serve as a Country Partner of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN), a global multidisciplinary organization committed to protecting children’s rights and preventing child abuse and neglect worldwide. In October 2025, CWLF participated in the ISPCAN Congress in Vilnius, Lithuania, held under the theme “Child Wellbeing in a Changing Reality.”

The five-day Vilnius Congress brought together more than 800 professionals from more than 80 countries and over 15 disciplines. Participants exchanged insights on service delivery, research findings, and innovative practices through a wide range of formats, including oral presentations, workshops, symposia, master classes, multimedia presentations, posters, working groups, and educational tours.

During the Congress, CWLF was honored to deliver three oral presentations highlighting our co-parenting support services, digital mindfulness coaching platform, and parent-child wellbeing program. We also valued the opportunity to connect with practitioners and advocates from around the world at our exhibition booth, where we exchanged ideas and explored possibilities for future collaboration.

In recent years, several key trends related to divorce have emerged in Taiwan, including a steady rise in divorce rates and an increasing proportion of joint custody cases. With the incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) into domestic law, shifts in social attitudes, legal frameworks, and research priorities have moved beyond a sole focus on parents experiencing divorce or separation. Greater emphasis is now placed on ensuring that children in divorced families are able to exercise their right to be heard and maintain meaningful relationships with both parents, in line with the best interests of the child.

In response, CWLF developed a co-parenting support group program to accompany parents navigating divorce or separation, centering on children’s needs and wellbeing. The program supports parents in adjusting to new roles, managing emotions, strengthening effective communication, handling conflict, and building collaborative co-parenting practices. Program outcomes were evaluated through quantitative surveys and qualitative feedback. Findings indicate that, compared with one-time parenting lectures, co-parenting support groups significantly enhance participants’ co-parenting awareness, reduce negative behaviors toward children, and improve communication patterns between parents.

The strength of CWLF’s co-parenting support group program lies in its child-centered approach, grounded in the best interests of the child. Through guidance from professional social workers, hands-on skill-building activities, and mutual sharing and support among group members, participants are supported in developing co-parenting mindsets and capacities.

In addition to continuously refining educational materials on parent-child relationships in divorced families, CWLF has developed new types of groups for specific targets, such as fathers’ groups and grandparents’ groups. Through ongoing public advocacy and collaboration with the government, CWLF works to ensure that children from divorced families can continue to receive love and resources from both parents and grow up in stable, supportive environments.

CWLF’s mental health service program aims to prevent family violence by establishing a mindfulness coaching community on LINE, Taiwan’s largest messaging platform, to help caregivers reduce parenting stress and improve psychological wellbeing. Participants receive daily mindfulness practice tasks, self-affirmation messages, and motivational articles through the online community, along with feedback and support from a counseling psychologist and a social worker.

Data collected across three cohorts (N = 109) show that among 51 valid participants, pre- and post-test results indicate significant improvements in wellbeing and mood. Further analysis found that neither the number of practice days nor whether participants submitted practice feedback significantly affected the outcome measures. To further examine additional indicators such as self-awareness and attention, the program was extended to include in-person parent-child classes, allowing for face-to-face research and evaluation.

The in-person classes also integrated mindfulness techniques and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills. Results demonstrated reductions in parents’ anxiety and stress levels, as well as in children’s behaviors of concern. Qualitative interviews were conducted to contextualize the quantitative findings and better understand participants’ experiences and perceptions. Future directions include increasing the proportion of qualitative interviews and recruiting more targeted participant groups through information sessions. Developed through a social design approach with rapid iteration, this program illustrates the potential of a low-cost, high-impact Minimum Viable Product (MVP) strategy in social work practice, as well as the applicability and impact of mindfulness-based interventions for caregivers.

CWLF’s “Parent-Child Collective Well-Being Moments” program was designed to strengthen parenting support and enhance caregivers’ parenting skills, thereby reducing parenting anxiety and helping to prevent family violence in response to the high-pressure parenting environment commonly faced by families in Taiwan. Grounded in a Parental Respite service model, the program served 100 parent-child dyads from Taipei (38.3%) and Hsinchu (61.7%) through a series of 16 structured sessions. All activities were designed to be developmentally appropriate for children, and sessions for parents were jointly developed and facilitated by parenting specialists with professional backgrounds in social work, psychology, and occupational therapy.

Findings indicate that the program effectively reduced parents’ overall stress levels and, to a certain extent, enhanced parenting efficacy, while also demonstrating a positive trend toward increased parenting support. Specifically, the Parental Respite course series contributed to a significant reduction in parental stress, whereas the thematic lecture series showed significant effects in improving parenting efficacy.

In addition, the program generated multiple positive outcomes for participating children, including reduced separation anxiety, strengthened parent-child attachment, and increased involvement of secondary caregivers. Notably, the same course series produced differing outcomes between Taipei and Hsinchu, suggesting regional differences in parents’ perceptions of self-care and collective wellbeing. Based on these findings, future efforts are recommended to expand the reach of similar programs and to further develop localized strategies that respond to regional needs while effectively communicating the concept of collective wellbeing.

At CWLF’s exhibition booth, we showcased a range of educational resources highlighting our key services for 2025, including the Handbooks for Children in Divorced Families, the Now Cards, the Heart Fitness Journey Calendar, and promotional items for the Climbing the Stress Mountain campaign. We also shared organizational brochures, mascot stickers, and informational flyers about our upcoming international conferences and forums.

We were encouraged to welcome many new visitors to our booth, where they learned more about our work and engaged in meaningful conversations with our team. Through these exchanges, we gained valuable insights into how other countries deliver similar services and develop educational materials. We also hope that our thoughtfully designed resources can inspire fellow professionals in their own initiatives.

CWLF extends its sincere appreciation to ISPCAN and all partner organizers for hosting such a meaningful and impactful Congress. For CWLF, this gathering provided a valuable opportunity not only to share our work in child protection and child empowerment in Taiwan, but also to learn from innovative research, policies, and practices from around the world.

Despite differences in culture, language, child welfare systems, and intervention approaches, participants from diverse regions demonstrated a shared commitment to safeguarding children’s rights and advancing child wellbeing. Looking ahead, CWLF will continue to strengthen international exchange, translate global insights into locally responsive practice, and seek opportunities for cross-border collaboration in research, service development, and advocacy. Through sustained partnership and collective action, we hope to contribute to a more connected global child protection community and a safer, more supportive future for children everywhere.

Learn more about CWLF’s work:

• When Now Card Characters Come to Life—A Journey to Body and Mind Regulation
• 2024 Conference on Building a Child-Friendly Co-Parenting Model for Divorced Families
• Event Highlights—International Conference on the Child's Voice in Family Law Cases