From June 25 to 30, 2026, Dr. Nan Fang, Associate Professor at the Institute of Comprehensive Governance of BASS, traveled to Nairobi, Kenya, to attend the 2026 Joint World Conference on Social Work, Education and Social Development (SWSD 2026) and presented a paper at the session “The Full Life Course of Social Work and Social Welfare.” This marked the first time that SWSD was held in Africa, attracting more than 2,500 scholars and practitioners worldwide. The conference featured 13 parallel sessions covering frontier topics such as digital social work, child protection, climate change and disaster risk, migration, and children on the move.
On June 28, Dr. Nan Fang presented a paper titled “Strengthening Social Support Systems: A Study on Domestic Adoption of Children with Special Needs in China” at a parallel session. The study focused on practical challenges such as the limited opportunities for family placement of children with disabilities or serious illnesses in welfare institutions and the weak support available to prospective adoptive families. From the perspective of building a social support system, it proposed ways to improve policy, services, and professional support. The paper received positive responses from participating scholars and helped establish initial contacts for future collaboration with researchers in child welfare, family services, and social policy from multiple countries.
During the conference, Dr. Nan Fang also participated in a field visit organized by the conference to the Kabiria Kivuli Centre in Nairobi. The Centre has long provided comprehensive rehabilitation services for street-connected children and vulnerable youth. Through its “3R Care Programme,” which integrates care, education, life skills training, and vocational training, it supports children in returning to their families or entering alternative care. Its model of collaborative service delivery by social organizations and local communities under conditions of limited resources provided useful reference for related research at our academy.
In addition, Dr. Nan Fang participated in parallel sessions on topics such as digital social work, social work and sustainable development, and resilience-building in child protection systems, gaining a systematic understanding of frontier issues including algorithmic governance and professional judgment, financial social work and the Sustainable Development Goals, and the development of social service teams for children on the move.
Participation in the conference significantly expanded our academy’s academic exchange network in the fields of international social work and child welfare, deepened our understanding of global research frontiers and local practical experience in countries of the Global South, and holds positive significance for advancing theoretical development and transnational comparative research in related fields at our academy.
打印
收藏