2023-04-24
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According to Mayor Lu, public childcare resources in Taichung were relatively scarce before she became mayor, so the city government made the number of public childcare doubling the most crucial policy goal. She thanked the Taichung City Council and all its members for supporting the public childcare doubling plan. She has been in office for more than four years, and number of public childcares has increased from 5 to 34, with 914 young children in childcare.
Mayor Lu said Beitun Jiushe Infant Daycare Center opened today and is the third public care center in Beitun District after Beitun Pingchang Community Public Childcare Home and Pingde Public Childcare. Next, the city government will continue to promote the "public childcare doubling," opening up to 60 public child cares, and they expect that the number of cared children will also reach twice the current level. The mayor hopes to provide more care for young children, reduce the burden on young people, enable them to work confidently, and lessen the caregiving burden on older people.
"Let Taichung City become a childcare paradise!" Mayor Lu stressed that besides promoting the doubling of public childcare, she also insisted that the childcare burden of parents in Taichung is "the lowest in the six special municipalities." The monthly fee for public childcare is NTD 7,000, with a subsidy of NTD 5,500. Therefore, parents only need to pay NTD 1,500, the lowest in Taiwan. If you have a third child, the city government will provide free services to you. The government hopes young people will be willing to live and dare to raise through various programs, which have also worked. The number of children under two in Taichung City is the second-largest in the country, and the natural birth rate is also the second-largest. The city government will continue to provide relevant childcare programs and services.
Social Affairs Bureau Director Jing-Zhi Liao indicated the city government has been promoting affordable childbirth and child-raising for over four years. The monthly fee for public child care is the lowest in Taiwan at NTD 7,000, and the government has increased the childbirth allowance from NTD 10,000 to 20,000. Several public childcare centers in South District, Taiping, Wuqi, Xinshe, Wuri, Xitun, Longjing, and Waipu expect to open this year, besides the Jiushe Infant Daycare Center opening today. The Social Affairs Bureau has established affordable community care resources and actively built Taichung into a friendly, livable, and happy city.
The Social Affairs Bureau explained the Beitun Jiushe Infant Daycare Center, which opened today, locates in the Beitun Tiankuo Community Center. The building was originally the location of the Beitun Family Welfare Service Center and the Beitun Women and New Immigrants Training Center affiliated with the Social Bureau. After reviewing the space, the Social Affairs Bureau set up an additional infant daycare center to bring complete welfare services to the Beitun District, which has a rapid population growth and many young families. Moreover, the Jiushe Infant Daycare Center is adjacent to the Beitun Family Welfare Service Center and the Women and New Immigrants Training Center, combining various welfare bases to provide citizens with more convenient welfare facilities.
The Social Bureau added that public daycare in Taichung City adopts services during the daytime, with professional daycare personnel for children aged 0 to 2. The care time is from 8 am to 6 pm, Monday to Friday. The infant daycare center will assist parents in applying for childcare fee subsidies. Infants and young children aged 0 to 2 who register in Taichung City and whose parents or guardians register in Taichung City and meet the requirements for childcare can register.
Today, the event venue was extraordinarily bustling. Attendees included Mayor Lu, Taichung Councilor Jian-Hao Huang, Councilor Jia-Yi Xie, Social Affairs Bureau Director Jing-Zhi Liao, Director of the Civil Affairs Bureau, Shi-Wei Wu, Chief of Beitun District Ming Ouyang, Local Village Chiefs, and Municipal Consultants. Besides, City Councilors You-Lian Shen, Cheng-Tian Chen, Chao-Rong Zeng, and Lai Shun-Ren Lai also sent representatives to participate in the grand event.
