China's family planning officials face a shift in their work after the National People's Congress advanced the landmark two-child policy, the Global Times reported.
Prior to the reform, news have surfaced about the administration forcing women to undergo abortions. In the old family planning law, couples were not allowed to have more than one child.
With the writing of the two-child policy into law, half a million family planning officials have commenced to take a new role, with one of the changes being rolled out in the grassroots level.
Now receiving the services of local family planning authorities becomes optional. These authorities are tasked to directly communicate with families within their jurisdiction and provide condoms and other contraception.
Townships, such as Shaanxi Province's Danfeng, have also established "babies' early development center," which aims to "provide services to newborns from 0 to 3 years old," the report added.
The move is part of the program unveiled by the National Health and Family Planning Commission to help improve the quality of parenting in rural areas across China.
Meanwhile, rural officials were also taught of scientific parenting methods during a week-long training session. They were also given materials such as toys and picture books as aid.
The trained officials are then assigned to the centers, and each of them is paired with several rural families which they will monitor and look after.
In the officials' weekly visit, they bring toys and books and play with the family's baby to demonstrate how to properly get along and raise the infant.
Additionally, the family planning officials record the physical data for each baby and jot down four development indicators: movement, language ability, social sentiment and recognition.
The report also pointed out the difficulties the officials encounter. Some parents refused the toys they bring for fear they cost money, while others mistake them for being child traffickers.
In line with this, the government is stepping up its efforts to change the old mindset among the citizens and the officials.