To help underprivileged children build up their funds for the future, the Accounts for Children and Teenagers Project was officially launched by the Ministry of Health and Welfare today! Parents can save up to NT$15,000 per year, and the government will follow suit with the same amount to help build this savings reserved for the children’s future. The Ministry held an opening ceremony today, and Vice President Chen Chien-jen came to attend as well, urging the public to join to help sow seeds of hope for these children’s future dreams.

     Working hard to realize President Tsai’s manifestoes, the Ministry of Health and Welfare launched the Accounts for Children and Teenagers’ Future Education and Development Project after nearly one year of planning, in order to assist orphans or children from underprivileged family to realize their dreams. The Ministry co-organized the opening ceremony today with Taiwan Fund for Children and Families; the Child Welfare League Foundation and World Vision also attended the ceremony to show their support. During the ceremony, Minister Chen Shih-chung particularly expressed his gratitude toward the Bank of Taiwan and Chunghwa Post for their assistance with setting up the accounts. He also gave certificates of appreciation to Huaijen Center for Human Becoming, Yonglin Foundation, and Bliss and Wisdom Foundation of Culture and Education for the material assistance they will provide for the future participating families. The short film advertising the Project was shown to the public today for the first time as well. The Ministry invited financially independent teenagers and six participating parents to the ceremony, to share their stories with others and encourage other families with similar needs to join.

The objective of the Accounts for Children and Teenagers Project is to help underprivileged children to save up funds for more and better future opportunities. Collaboration between the government, private organizations, and the families themselves enables the children to set up a personal account, into which their parents can deposit up to NT$15,000 per year, which will then be doubled by the government. Most importantly, the savings in these children’s accounts will not affect the other social benefits received by the family. The government will also work with private organizations to provide other helps in the form of counseling, material supplies, and finance management lessons, in order to maximize these families’ ability to save up for their children.

        The Ministry of Health and Welfare reminds the public that any registered low-income and low-to-medium-income households with children born after January 1, 2016 can submit applications to the social affairs bureaus/departments in their cities/ counties of residence. For more information, please visit the website (https://goo.gl/ZcdKvG) or call the toll-free social welfare hotline 1957 (8 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day).