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Family Business Succession Planning and Family Matters Series - A retrospective review of the competent authority and legislative history of the Act of Assistance for Family in Hardship: Amendment to Article 3 as a starting point



Statistics of the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) show that around 8% of 260,000 low-income and middle-low income households in Taiwan fit the definition of a family in hardship. As of 2019, there had been more than 20,000 families in hardship in Taiwan. It is critical that the needs of these families receive long-term attention. [1][2]
 
This Act is enacted to offer relief to families in hardship experiencing financial problems or facing difficulties in life by providing emergency care, with a view to improving their well-being and helping them stand on their own feet. A family in hardship, as defined under this Act, refers to a family that earns a middle-low or less income with one of the following conditions: a victim of family violence; an unmarried and pregnant woman; a spouse deceased, missing or serving time; unable to work due to serious injury or illness; and other situations (See Table 1). Any such family can apply for subsidy in the form of emergency life assistance, children’s living allowance, children’s educational allowance, medical subsidy, children nursery allowance, subsidy of litigation and career development loan.
 
Table 1
A “family in hardship” refers to any middle-low income household in any of the following situations:
1.     Below 65 years old with a spouse deceased or missing and undiscovered after 6 months of search by the police authority.
2.     Abandoned with malice or abuse by a spouse as well as divorced by judicial decree or completion of voluntary divorce.
3.     Victim of family violence.
4.     The unmarried woman is pregnant; the pregnancy is within three months and two months after accouchement.
5.     Single parent raising any child under 18 years old due to divorce, loss of spouse, childbirth out of wedlock or grandparent raising any grandchild under 18 years old due to inability of the parent, without working ability or with working ability but unable to work due to serious injury, illness or caretaking of any child or grandchild under 6 years old.
6.     Spouse is subject to imprisonment of one year or longer or security measure restricting physical freedom of one year or longer, which is under execution.
7.     Other living and economic difficulty due to serious incident during the past three months other than due to personal liability, indebtedness or voluntary unemployment, as determined by municipal, county or city government.
(Article 4 of the Act of Assistance for Family in Hardship)
 
The Act of Assistance for Families of Women in Hardship–before it was later amended and became the Act of Assistance for Family in Hardship–was stipulated in 2000 for the legislative purpose of fulfilling the legislative intent of Articles 155 and 156 of the Constitution: To provide substantive relief to women facing difficulties in life in order to improve their living conditions and to prevent further suffering due to temporary financial difficulties. To include single-father and skipped generation families in the definition of a “family in hardship,” the word “women” was deleted in 2009. When this Act was first stipulated, Article 3 read as follows: The “competent authority” as referred to in the Act is the Ministry of the Interior in Central Government. As a matter of fact, the Department of Social Affairs and the Bureau of Child Welfare under the Ministry of the Interior were respectively in charge of advancing women’s welfare and safeguarding child and youth welfare.
 
Faced with the changes and challenges of a new era, Taiwan pushed for a series of governmental organization reforms, beginning in 1988, in order to build a more efficient, effective and flexible government in responding to the needs of a changing social environment. After extensive research and multiple deliberations by the Legislative Yuan, the amendment to Organizational Act of the Executive Yuan was finally passed by the Legislative Yuan in January 2010 and enacted on January 1, 2012 This wave of governmental organization reform also facilitated the integration of health care and social welfare services. Pursuant to Subparagraph 11 of Article 3 of the Organizational Act of the Executive Yuan, the Ministry of Health and Welfare was established. The main reason for establishing the MOHW is to tackle the trend of Taiwanese having fewer babies and an aging population that have led to gradual demographic changes. Social policies responding to this trend have to be made and adjusted in a timely manner. Thus, integration of health care and social welfare services will help in overall resource allocation and planning of welfare policies, which serves to build better social welfare, social care and health care institutions. As Section 4, Chapter XIII of the Constitution titled “Social Security” also covers both sanitation and welfare, the establishment of the MOHW should help meet the needs of building Taiwan’s social security network.
 
Hence, engineered by the Executive Yuan, on 23 July 2013 the former Department of Health under Executive Yuan with its twenty-one agencies and task forces, five affiliated agencies, the Department of Social Affairs of the Ministry of the Interior, the Bureau of Child Welfare, Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention Committee, National Pension Supervisory Committee, and National Research institute of Chinese Medicine under the Ministry of Education were merged into the new MOHW with eight standing departments and six auxiliary departments, each given the proper authority over the matters relegated to it, and six three-level agencies or affiliated institution, namely, Centers for Disease Control, Food and Drug Administration, National Health Insurance Administration, Health Promotion Administration, Social and Family Affairs Administration (SFAA), and National Research Institute of Chinese Medicine. This new MOHW seeks to promote the health and well-being of citizens by building a people-centered social welfare system. In accordance with the organizational reform policy, the Executive Yuan, with the publication of its Order Yuan-Tai-Gui-Zi No. 1020141353, announced the following: The authority over matters designated under the Ministry of the Interior, as stipulated in Paragraph 1 of Article 3 of the Act of Assistance for Family in Hardship, shall be taken over by the MOHW starting from 23 July 2013. Since assistance rendered to families in hardship is a matter of family support, the SFAA shall have responsibility forproviding such assistance, in accordance with Subparagraph 5 of Article 5 of the Organic Act for Ministry of Health and Welfare. It shall formulate and execute policies to revitalize family values and functions, reduce welfare dependence, and enhance the quality of welfare services as well as the capacity to provide them.
 
As stated in the foregoing, the authority over matters designated under The Ministry of the Interior as provided in the Act of Assistance for Family in Hardship was assumed by the SFAA under the MOHW on 23 July 2013. Yet, for an extended period of time, this Act had not been amended to reflect this. The amendment to Article 3 of the Act of Assistance for Family in Hardship promulgated on 15 January 2020 at last states in writing this particular change. The reason for amendment also explicitly cites the Executive Yuan’s endeavor to reform organizations. Accordingly, the Article sets forth the MOHW as the new competent authority. With this amendment, the law and administrative practice are properly aligned. Now that the responsibility for taking care of families in hardship lies with the MOHW, it is better positioned to establish a more efficient and flexible health care and social welfare system, break the negative cycle of poverty and disease, and safeguard the health and well-being of citizens.
 
Table 2
After amendment
Before amendment
Reason for amendment
Promulgated on 15 January 2020
Promulgated on 24 May 2000
In line with the Executive Yuan’s drive to reform organizations, the competent authority of this Act shall be the MOHW, as amended.
I.      The “competent authority” as referred to in this Act: The Ministry of Health and Welfare in Central Government, the City Government in Special Municipality and the County (City) in County (City) Government.
II.    The “affairs” as referred to in this Act are handled by government agency that acts as the regulatory authority.
I.       The “competent authority” as referred to in this Act: The Ministry of the Interior in Central Government, the City Government in Special Municipality and the County (City) in County (City) Government.
II.    The “affairs” as referred to in this Act are handled by government agency that acts as the regulatory authority.
 

 



[1]Social welfare statistics, compiled by the Department of Statistics, MOHW :https://www.mohw.gov.tw/dl-22953-9ef4037e-e4d3-44a0-ba1b-45259340d5b1.html(last visited 3 March 2020).
[2]Overview of family in hardship, compiled by the Department of Statistics, MOHW :https://www.mohw.gov.tw/dl-22267-f4957b0d-49d2-4087-9975-93edd6e0c6ec.html(last visited 3 March 2020).
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