In recent years, many young people have transformed into "shared children" or "community children" for the elderly, using their kindness and expertise to provide assistance. This includes both paid services purchased by seniors or their families, and mutually voluntary, unpaid caregiving. As the traditional role of family-based elderly care continues to weaken, this model of mutual assistance can supplement home-based care, but it faces challenges like building trust and vague service boundaries.
"Hello, Auntie, I've come to see you." Zhang Ping, a college student in Zhengzhou, walked through the door carrying a bag of fruit. Behind Aunt Li, a table was already filled with steaming dishes. This marks their fourth year of friendship. In 2022, Zhang Ping met the elderly Aunt Li, who lives alone, during a walk and began visiting her regularly. "When I have time, I help walk the dog and pick up packages, and she often invites me to stay for dinner. We take care of each other like family," Zhang Ping said.
Many young people, like Zhang Ping, are acting as "shared children" or "community children" for the elderly, offering help with kindness and professional skills. This includes services paid for by the elderly or their children, as well as unpaid, voluntary mutual care. Experts note that as traditional family caregiving functions continue to weaken, this mutual aid model can serve as a supplement to home-based care. However, it is crucial to clarify the legal relationships and boundaries of rights and responsibilities for such services, strengthen the construction of the elderly care service talent team, and formulate unified industry service standards.
From Warm Companionship to Paid Services
"After getting to know Aunt Li, I've come to understand the various needs of an elderly person's life, and now I take on some one-off jobs on social media platforms," Zhang Ping told reporters. She monitors help-seeking posts on these platforms, often posted by the children of empty-nest elderly, requesting someone to accompany their parent to the bank or government hall, or to help register mobile phone software. "At first, most elderly people are surprised to see a stranger at the door, but once they learn it's a 'helper' arranged by their children, they are usually very welcoming," Zhang Ping said.
A search by reporters found that this type of service already has a significant presence on social media. On one platform, posts with keywords like "shared children" or "community children" have garnered over 360,000 views. On another personal trading platform, many users offer long-term services under the names "shared children" or "caregiver for the elderly," including daily visits, medical companionship, daily necessities purchasing, and even "pretending to be a child to help out" if the elderly encounter disputes. The prices for such services generally range from 30 to 100 yuan per hour, with each order costing between 200 and 1000 yuan.
In addition to individual part-time workers, some companies and online platforms are also exploring this new service model. Since 2023, "community child" service stations have appeared in cities like Shijiazhuang (Hebei), Zibo (Shandong), and Dingxi (Gansu). These are set up with government support providing venues and policy incentives, attracting cooperation from elderly care institutions to serve community residents. "A phone call from a senior in the cooperating street is enough for our staff to visit, care for, and check on them at any time," said Zhang Hongyu, Chairman of Shijiazhuang Aichao Home Care Service Co., Ltd.
"China's population is aging rapidly, facing challenges of an increasing number of elderly people who are very old or have disabilities," noted Zhao Menghan, a researcher at the Center for Population and Development Studies at Renmin University of China, and the Beijing Research Center for Population Development and Governance Innovation. She pointed out that current elderly care services lack adequate professional long-term care resources and suffer from uneven development between urban and rural areas and regions. The 'shared children' and 'community children' models can, to some extent, leverage the community's support function for the home-based care needs of the elderly," Zhao Menghan said. "By packaging needs like companionship, medical escort, and conflict mediation into service products, it can provide immediate and efficient help for the elderly, offering daily care and emotional comfort in a sustained, low-cost, or even free way. This is an important supplement to traditional family care."
Getting "Too Close" to an Elderly Person Leads to Being Blocked by Their Child
"My parents are not comfortable with care from strangers; they always feel a sense of distance," admitted Ms. Su from Guangdong. In 2025, when her father was hospitalized and she couldn't leave her job elsewhere, she hired a "shared child" online to accompany him during medical visits and care. However, her parents initially refused. "It was only when I told them it was a friend helping out that they reluctantly accepted," Ms. Su said.
Building trust and defining service boundaries are the real-world challenges facing the "shared children" and "community children" elderly care model. Xiao Jiang from Jiangsu worked part-time as a "shared child" for three years on a platform, but lost her "client" due to a package delivery. "I once accompanied an aunt to handle a visa application, and we had a great chat. In November 2025, I sent her a gift of local specialties. The aunt's daughter thought I was getting 'too close' to her mother. Not only did she block me, but she also reported me to the platform," Xiao Jiang recounted her experience to reporters.
Beyond online platforms, similar ambiguity in rights and responsibilities also troubles community-based elderly care service institutions. "Currently, there is no clear legal definition of the service relationship between 'community children' and the elderly. If a dispute arises, it does pose a certain risk," Zhang Hongyu told reporters. If staff use body cameras during home visits, it risks invading the elderly's privacy, putting practitioners in a dilemma and causing hesitation.
Zhao Menghan pointed out that the use of the family ethical term "children" in the names of the "shared children" and "community children" models can easily blur the complex intergenerational and service relationships, clouding the boundaries of rights and responsibilities in elderly care. Furthermore, the workforce for this type of elderly care service has high turnover. Since the elderly expect and are better suited to long-term companionship, frequently changing service personnel can have an additional negative psychological impact on them. "The content, frequency, and personnel training requirements of community practices vary greatly across different regions, and there is a lack of unified service standards and training criteria, leading to uneven service quality," Zhao Menghan said.
How Can Mutual Aid Elderly Care Achieve Standardized Development?
The community-based practice of the mutual aid elderly care model can be traced back to 2012. In Yunfeng Community, Baiyun Street, Haishu District, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, a service team of 52 young volunteers was established to pair up and care for the elderly. Nanjing, Jiangsu, also innovatively introduced the "Time Bank" mutual aid elderly care model, using a "service savings, cross-time redemption" method to encourage younger seniors to serve older seniors, and healthy seniors to help disabled seniors, creating a virtuous cycle of "one generation helping another, the younger elderly supporting the older elderly."
Reporters also noticed that concepts like "Mutual Support Agreement for Parents" and "Plan to Help Each Other's Parents Outside" are quietly emerging in cyberspace. How can this new type of mutual aid elderly care model achieve standardized development? Zhao Menghan suggested that the first step is to clarify the identity positioning of volunteers or service providers. Establish clear legal contracts and service agreements to define the rights and obligations of both parties. Simultaneously, establish risk warning and emergency response mechanisms, and purchase accident insurance for both practitioners and the elderly. "The elderly also have the need to go out and engage in activities outside the home. We hope that the government and local streets can plan more land for elderly care service facilities within community complexes and public service venues. For example, adding spaces for custodial care, medical and health services, and cultural activity centers for the elderly, and carrying out age-friendly renovations," Zhang Hongyu said.
Addressing the pain point of high practitioner turnover, Zhao Menghan recommended adopting fixed pairing models to ensure smooth service transitions and reduce the elderly's adaptation costs. Concurrently, unified service standards and training criteria should be formulated at the national or local level. These should clarify the content, frequency, and quality requirements of the services. Efforts should be made to improve the comprehensive quality of professional talent, establish clear career advancement pathways, and enhance the professional identity and attractiveness of the elderly care service industry through incentive measures such as industry honors.