Fucui, a young mother of a little boy, lives in Yongren County, Yunan Province. In July 2017, she was part of a team organized by World Vision that worked to care for and protect left-behind children. Most households in Yongren County are led by grandparents, because mothers and fathers have migrated to large cities in search of work. While grandparents usually take their role of child-raising seriously, because of age, health, and other limitations, they are often unable to fully take the place of parents. As a result, left-behind children can be spoiled, undisciplined, and don’t know right from wrong. In many cases, their upbringing is largely left in the hands of teachers.

With training from World Vision, Fucui took on a leadership role in caring for and protecting vulnerable children in her community, especially those whose parents were no longer around. She regularly conducts home visits to check in on children and to coach adults in how to improve their childcare skills. She is able to intervene and provide practical advice based on the unique situation in each family.

Fucui explains, “Some families don’t send their teenaged children to school because they lack money. I tell them that children of poor households can attend free or subsidized schools and help them figure out how to make use of this benefit. Teenaged children also learn about modern agricultural technology, so they have practical skills to bring home to their household.”

Through interacting with her own son, as well as 20 other children in the village, Fucui’s relationship with children is also evolving. “I didn’t really know how to communicate with my own son before,” she explains. “After participating in World Vision’s training, and by doing many home visits, I have learned to listen and understand what is in child’s heart.”

Yongren County now has 63 village-level leaders like Fucui who are the “last mile” in a grassroots network designed to spread best practices in child care, while working to identify and intervene in cases where children have additional needs.

This September, World Vision’s project to help left-behind children in Yongren County finally ended. During its final year, since November 2019, World Vision has been providing supervision and training to local organizations, so they are equipped to carry on the work. Social workers in Yongren County are now trained about child rights, child protection, child development, interview skills, and the workings of the child welfare system.