The Điện Biên provincial Social Welfare Center is the home for 63 children aged 4 to 22. These children come from vulnerable backgrounds, including those with no caregivers, orphans, or those whose parents are serving sentences.

Upon being admitted to the provincial Social Welfare Center, these children receive good care and full benefits according to regulations. Each year, the Center collaborates with various agencies and organizations to organize meaningful activities for the children, such as visiting historical sites, celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival, providing medicine and health check-ups, organizing vegetable farming, and engaging in sports activities after school hours. The Center actively and proactively mobilizes agencies, organizations, and philanthropists to support and help the children, improving their material and spiritual life, and alleviating the difficulties they face. Since 2024, the Center has received essential goods and cash donations worth over VND 700 million from organizations and individuals.

The provincial Social Welfare Center collaborates with schools to educate the children, provide career guidance, and vocational training, helping them develop physically, intellectually, and morally, while also preparing them for their future careers. Currently, 100% of children in the center who are of school age are attending school.

Sùng Thị Y Na, an unfortunate child who lost her father at a young age and whose mother remarried, has been living at the provincial Social Welfare Center since 2015. With encouragement and support from the staff at the center, Y Na has always strived to excel in her studies. For 11 consecutive years, she has received the titles of excellent student and advanced student.

Y Na shared, “I feel lucky to have been accepted into the provincial Social Welfare Center and to receive the attention of many people. The teachers provide me with opportunities to study, buy clothes, and give me the resources to do well in school and pursue my dreams.”

Lò Thị Luyến, Deputy Director of the provincial Social Welfare Center, stated that the 63 children here come from various circumstances, but all face great hardship and deprivation. “With the responsibilities entrusted to us, we will continue to take good care of and raise the children, ensuring they have the best conditions to grow safely and healthily,” she added.

The city of Điện Biên Phủ currently has 348 children with special circumstances, accounting for 1.64% of the total child population; 375 children are at risk of falling into special circumstances, representing 1.31% of the city’s total child population. In recent years, the city’s authorities, government, and people have always paid attention to and supported these children, helping them overcome difficulties and integrate into the community. Cases eligible for social assistance have been promptly addressed by the city. In addition to implementing the policies of the Party and State, the city has mobilized community resources to care for children.

In June 2024, the Youth Union - Children’s Council of Điện Biên Phủ city built a “Red Scarf House” for Cà Thanh Hưng, from Nà Cái hamlet, Nà Tấu commune. His family, classified as near-poor, lived in a severely deteriorated stilt house and could not afford repairs or reconstruction. Sharing in Hưng’s difficulties, the Youth Union - Vietnam Youth Federation - Children’s Council of the city supported his family to build a new house with an area of 60m2, worth VND 70 million. They also gave him a “Red Scarf Chicken Herd” with 30 chickens to help him develop livestock farming. This support has helped Hưng’s family acquire a new, more comfortable home and improved living and study conditions.

Public health care, especially for children in difficult circumstances, has always been a priority for society. At the end of March, the provincial Department of Health organized a free medical check-up and medicine distribution program at the SOS Children’s Village Điện Biên Phủ and the Provincial Social Welfare Center.

Dr. Nguyễn Văn Mạnh, Director of the Điện Biên Phủ city’s Health Center, said: “The center has prepared a free supply of health supplements worth nearly VND 70 million and assigned doctors and pharmacists to participate in medical check-ups and distribute medicine, along with specialists and nurses from the Provincial General Hospital who coordinated to provide equipment for electrocardiograms, ultrasound, and ENT examinations for the children at SOS Children’s Village and the Provincial Social Welfare Center.” This is not just medical support but also a great encouragement for the children, making them feel that, despite their difficult circumstances, they are entitled to full protection and healthcare.

With these practical activities, mobilizing the participation of the entire political system and the social community in the protection, care, and education of children, especially poor children and those in difficult circumstances across the province, it will contribute to improving living conditions, providing opportunities for children to live in a safe, healthy environment, and develop comprehensively.