The National Health Commission ("NHC") has recently issued the Standard for Setting up of Child Caring Institutions (for Trial Implementation) and the Specification for Management of Child Caring Institutions (for Trial Implementation) (the "Specification"), both immediately effective from the date of issuance.
The Specification expressly states that staff members of child caring institutions shall have full capacity for civil conduct, observe professional ethics, love babies and young children, be mentally and physically healthy, have no record of child abuse or crimes, and have obtained the qualifications required under relevant state and local provisions. Meanwhile, the Specification requires that child caring institutions shall have in place the mechanism for liaison with parents, and hold parents' meetings regularly, receive visitors and respond to inquiries to help parents understand the specific work of child care and how to take care of young children. In case a child caring institution finds a baby or a young child suffers from or is believed to suffer from domestic violence, it shall report the case in a timely manner to the public security organ. In addition, the Specification provides that child caring institutions shall set up the monitoring systems for caring services, security assurance, etc. The alarm monitoring system should function on a 24-hour basis and cover all places where babies and young children reside or appear. And the monitoring records should be retained for at least 90 days.