Social Work Research on Intervention of Rural Left-behind Children from the Social Support Network Perspective

Abstract

Rural left-behind children as a special vulnerable group, has aroused extensive public concern since 2004. Owing to the limitations of subjective and objective conditions, the demand of the rural left-behind children is difficult to meet, which consequently hinders their growth and development, and even may threaten their personal existence. As spokesmen for vulnerable groups of society, social workers should be responsible for the rights and interests maintenance of rural left-behind children and take action at once. Social support network theory is applied in this paper. The paper suggests that a major factor leading to the problem of rural left-behind children is the lack of their social support networks. It points out that the social support network should include two aspects: the personal-self support and the social support. In fact, the two aspects are mutually connected. The author emphasizes that social work should give full play to the professional strengths so as to build a safe, effective and comprehensive social support network for the rural left-behind children. The concrete actions should be initiated from the personal intervention of both internal and external dimensions.