Circular No. 87/2008/TT-BTC guiding the management and use of the Child Welfare Fund

CIRCULAR

GUIDELINES FOR THE MANAGEMENT AND USE OF THE CHILD SUPPORT FUND

On the basis of Law on State Budget No. 01/2002/QH11 dated December 16, 2002 and guiding documents State Budget Law;
Decree No. Decision No. 36/2005/NĐ-CP dated March 17, 2005 of the Government detailing implementation of certain provisions of the Law on Protection, Care, and Education of Children;
Decree No. Decision No. 77/2003/NĐ-CP dated July 1, 2003 of the Government defining functions, tasks, authorities, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;
The Ministry of Finance guides the management and use of the Child Support Fund as follows:

This technical regulation sets out technical requirements, testing methods, sampling procedures; management requirements; responsibilities of organizations and individuals producing, trading, and importing cigarettes.

1. The Child Support Fund is a public service unit; established at provincial and central levels; managed by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs (for the Vietnam Child Support Fund) and by the Department of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs (for the provincial and centrally-administered city Child Support Funds) pursuant to Decree No. 186/2007/NĐ-CP dated December 25, 2007 of the Government defining functions, tasks, authorities, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs and Decree No. 13/2008/NĐ-CP dated February 4, 2008 of the Government organizing specialized agencies under provincial and centrally-administered city People's Committees.

2. The Child Support Fund is established with the purpose of soliciting voluntary contributions from domestic and foreign organizations, individuals, international aid, and state budget support for the cause of protecting, caring for, and educating children.

3. Recipients of support from the Child Support Fund include:

- Children in particularly difficult circumstances including: orphaned children without guardianship, abandoned children; disabled children; children affected by chemical toxins; children infected with HIV/AIDS; children engaged in heavy, dangerous work, exposed to harmful substances; children working away from home; vagrant children; sexually abused children; drug-addicted children; children violating laws;

- Children suffering from serious, life-threatening illnesses with high treatment costs; victims of accidents and injuries;

- Children in mountainous, remote, border, revolutionary base areas, and disaster-stricken regions;

- Children from poor families who excel in their studies;

- Children sponsored according to specific addresses provided by sponsoring organizations, individuals;

- Supporting other categories of children consistent with the fund's objectives and purposes.

3. The Child Support Fund is a public service unit within the social sector: having legal personality, its own seal, permitted to open accounts at banks or state treasuries for transactions, organizing accounting systems in accordance with the Accounting Law; year-end balances of the fund, including regular funding from the state budget (if applicable), are carried over to the next year for continued use.

4. Idle funds of the fund (excluding state budget sources) are deposited in savings accounts or purchased as government bonds to ensure preservation and growth of the fund, serving the fund's activities.

5. The Child Support Fund must publicly disclose fundraising, management, and usage of the fund and report financial transparency as stipulated in Decision No. 192/2004/QĐ-TTg dated November 16, 2004 of the Prime Minister regarding the issuance of Financial Transparency Regulations for state budgets at all levels, budgetary units, organizations supported by the state budget, construction projects funded by the state budget, state-owned enterprises, funds sourced from the state budget, and funds from people's contributions, and guiding documents of the Ministry of Finance. Fundraising, management, and usage must comply with the intended purpose, be effective, and adhere to current state financial management regulations and provisions of this Circular.

II. SPECIFIC PROVISIONS

1. Sources of income for the Child Support Fund:

- Income from voluntary contributions, lawful sponsorships in the form of money, goods, securities, property rights, and other assets from domestic and foreign organizations and individuals through donations, asset gift contracts, bequests, wills, or other forms consistent with legal provisions.

- Accepting targeted sponsorships with specific addresses to implement according to the authorization of the sponsoring organization, individual.

- Regular funding from the state budget, including:

+ Funding for tasks assigned by state agencies;

+ Regular funding to cover administrative management expenses for staff authorized to manage the fund;

+ Funding for public services, scientific research topics, national target programs, projects, and plans commissioned by the state (if applicable).

+ Counterpart funding for aid and sponsorship projects (if applicable).

- Interest income from deposits, government bonds (if applicable).

- Other lawful income (if applicable).

2. Expenditure items of the Child Support Fund:

2.1. Expenditures supporting children in particularly difficult circumstances from raised contributions and sponsorships include:

- Rehabilitation support for disabled children such as eye surgery, cleft lip and palate repair, orthopedic surgery, heart surgery...

- Medical examination, treatment, travel, and food expenses for children suffering from serious, life-threatening illnesses and high-cost medical treatments due to accidents and injuries.

- Vocational training fees, food, textbooks, and study materials for children in particularly difficult circumstances who wish to learn a trade.

- Scholarships, textbooks, and study materials for students from poor families, children of war invalids and martyrs, and children from families meritorious to the revolution who excel academically.

- Construction, repair, improvement, and upgrading of kindergartens, rehabilitation centers, and recreational facilities for children in particularly difficult mountainous, remote, ethnic minority, and revolutionary base areas.

- Organizing holidays and commemorations for children such as International Children's Day on June 1, Mid-Autumn Festival, meetings with children in difficult circumstances who have overcome challenges.

- Emergency support for children in disaster-stricken and epidemic areas.

- Support for poor children attending charitable classes organized by organizations and individuals.

- Support for poor children facing other accidental risks.

- Support for children with specific addresses based on requests from sponsoring organizations, individuals.

- Supporting other categories of children consistent with the fund's objectives and purposes.

The specific content and amount of the above support shall be decided by the head of the Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs Authority based on the proposal of the Director of the Child Support Fund at the same level to ensure suitability with the actual situation and the capacity of the fund. For financial sponsorships that have been agreed upon or are documented in signed agreements between the Child Support Fund and the sponsors regarding the content and amount, they shall be implemented according to such agreements or signed documents.

2.2. Expenditure for managing the Child Support Fund:

a) The Fund may allocate up to 10% (ten percent) of its total annual revenue (excluding designated donations, donations in kind, and state budget support) for management expenses. Based on the annual revenue, the Minister of Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs (for the Vietnam Child Support Fund) and the Director of the Department of Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs (for provincial and centrally-administered city Child Support Funds) shall decide on the appropriate management expense allocation in accordance with the operational circumstances of the Fund.

b) Content and expenditure for managing the Fund:

- Regular and irregular activities shall be carried out in accordance with current regulations applicable to public service units.

- Special business activity expenditures of the Fund include:

+ Expenditures for promotional and mobilization activities to raise funds.

+ Expenditures related to the implementation of tasks involving the receipt, transportation, and distribution of donated money and goods to beneficiaries (rent for warehouses and docks; packaging and transportation costs; transfer fees; other costs).

+ Expenditures for surveying, project planning, monitoring, supervising, and evaluating the implementation of support programs and projects for children.

+ Expenditures for rewarding organizations, groups, and individuals who have made significant contributions to fundraising and supporting the operations of the Child Support Fund.

+ Other special expenditures related to the Fund's activities.

The expenditure levels shall be implemented in accordance with the current state regulations on expenditure standards for public service units and the internal expenditure rules of the Child Support Fund.

c) The Child Support Fund may operate under a financial autonomy mechanism for its management funding in accordance with current state regulations on financial systems for public service units.

2.3. Expenditure for implementing research topics, national target programs, projects, and plans commissioned by the State, and counterpart funds for assistance projects in accordance with current state regulations.

3. Budget preparation, accounting, settlement of income and expenditure, and fund management:

The preparation, execution of budgets, accounting records, and settlement of income and expenditure of the Child Support Fund shall be conducted in accordance with the Law on State Budget, the Accounting Law, and other guiding documents. Additionally, this Circular supplements certain specific points as follows:

a) Establishment of budget estimates:

Annually, based on the functions and tasks assigned by the competent authority; the tasks of the planned year; the current financial expenditure system; the financial income and expenditure situation of the previous year, the Child Support Fund shall prepare the budget for income and expenditure in accordance with the current financial system for public service units and submit it to the Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs Authority for review and consolidation before submitting to the competent authority for approval.

b) Accounting and Settlement:

The Child Support Fund shall organize and implement accounting and statistical work in accordance with the laws on accounting and statistics; maintain books recording the full list of agencies, organizations, and individuals contributing and sponsoring, as well as the list and addresses of beneficiaries assisted by the Child Support Fund.

- The accounting and settlement of the Child Support Fund's finances shall be carried out in accordance with the current accounting system for administrative and public service units. It is strictly prohibited to leave any income, expenditure, assets, fund money, debts, or contributions from organizations, groups, and individuals outside the accounting books.

- For aid sources: follow the current state regulations on receiving, managing, and using aid sources for tracking, accounting, and settlement.

- For some support activities of the Child Support Fund entrusted to other agencies and organizations through contracts with the Child Support Fund, the vouchers serving as the basis for settlement and final accounts shall be kept at the Child Support Fund, including: Contract for performing tasks (accompanied by detailed budget approved by the Child Support Fund), acceptance report, contract termination report, payment authorization or payment voucher, and other relevant documents. Specific expenditure vouchers shall be stored by the agency or organization directly implementing the support activities in accordance with current regulations.

- Quarterly and annually, the Child Support Fund is responsible for preparing financial reports and settling income and expenditure to report to the Child Support Fund Advisory Council and the Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs Authority at the same level.

c) Fund Management:

- The Child Support Fund must disclose all income and expenditure and comply with the state's financial and accounting systems to provide necessary information for fund management and control.

- Periodically and urgently, the Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs Authority has the responsibility to inspect the management and use of the fund's financial resources. The Director of the Child Support Fund is responsible to the head of the Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs Authority and the Child Support Fund Advisory Council for all income and expenditure activities of the fund.

- The Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs Authority is responsible for reviewing and approving the settlement of all operating funds of the Child Support Fund in accordance with current state regulations and consolidating them into the Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs Authority's settlement report to settle with the Finance Authority at the same level.

III. IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

This Circular takes effect 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette and replaces Circular No. 112/2004/TT-BTC dated November 24, 2004, issued by the Ministry of Finance on guiding the management and use of the Vietnam Child Support Fund.

During the implementation process, if there are any difficulties, please promptly reflect them to the Ministry of Finance for research and resolution./.