The topic of “shared children” trended on Monday (October 12th) on the Chinese mainland. Various services focusing on accompanying and caring for the elderly, such as paid companionship, home visits, and volunteer pairing services, have gradually emerged. Terms like “shared children,” “outsourced children,” and “community children” have become new focal points in the discussion of elder care in China.
This phenomenon reflects the intensified aging population, shrinking family sizes, and increased population mobility in China, which are challenging traditional family caregiving models. When companionship and care can be purchased through the market, issues such as service quality, safety of the elderly’s assets, and the government’s responsibility for elder care security become unavoidable.
China’s population structure is undergoing profound changes. Official data shows that in 2025, China’s birth rate dropped to a mere 5.63 per thousand inhabitants, a significant decrease from 6.39 per thousand in 2024, marking the lowest record since 1949.
By the end of 2025, the population of people aged 60 and above in China had reached 323 million, accounting for about 23% of the total population, meaning one out of every four residents is over 60 years old, with approximately 10 million people being added each year. With the continuous increase in the elderly population, the demand for elder care and support is also on the rise.
According to the “White Paper on Development of Home-based Elderly Care in China,” over 90% of elderly people in China opt for home-based care.
In traditional Chinese beliefs, “raising children to support the elderly” implies that children should bear the responsibility of caring for their aging parents. However, with shrinking family sizes, increased interregional population mobility, and young people facing multiple pressures such as employment, housing, and childcare, children may not always be able to regularly accompany or personally care for their parents. This has impacted the traditional family caregiving model, creating a demand for various socialized elder care services.
According to a report by the Nanjing Daily, 24-year-old Heng Mengyu and two entrepreneurial partners in Nanjing provide “shared children” services, mainly targeting empty-nest and solitary elderly people, offering companionship, emotional comfort, medical accompanying, and handling of affairs. Each service session lasts at least two hours, with fees starting from 200 yuan.
Heng Mengyu mentioned that the market demand exceeded expectations, with many children living in other regions voluntarily contacting them, hoping for service personnel to visit their parents on their behalf.
Sixty-year-old Auntie Cui is one of the service recipients. Her daughter, who is doing business in Fujian, purchased this service for her. Auntie Cui mentioned that when service personnel visit her, they bring daily necessities, chat with her, teach her how to use a phone, and help manage her blood pressure.
Reports show that out of 10 Nanjing residents interviewed, six expressed willingness to consider purchasing such services for their parents living in different places.
Presently, similar “shared children” services have emerged in various parts of China, with single-session fees ranging from about 200 yuan to 2,000 yuan.
According to a report by Dajiyuan in November 2025, a team in Dalian, Liaoning that originally provided bodyguard services transformed into offering “outsourced children” services in March 2025 and expanded to a thousand staff within three months. Additionally, companies in Henan have also introduced similar services.
These services have shifted some of the responsibilities of companionship, visits, and daily assistance from family members to professional or semi-professional personnel. For busy working children living in different regions, this may alleviate some of the care pressures, but it has also raised discussions on familial relationships, service responsibilities, and elderly safety.
With the rising attention on “shared children,” opinions on the internet have been polarized.
Supporters believe that elderly individuals have the right to choose the services they need. When children cannot regularly accompany their parents due to work or distance, purchasing companionship, visits, and daily assistance through the market can partially fill the caregiving gaps and lighten the load for children living far away.
Critics argue that even if paid services can provide companionship, they cannot fully replace family affection. Of more concern is that some elders might develop trust in the service personnel who visit frequently. If responsibilities are unclear between parties or if the service personnel lack necessary professional ethics, the elderly may face risks like property damages.
An article in the Workers’ Daily in August mentioned a service provider in Jiangsu who previously offered “shared children” services on a platform. This provider faced complaints from a daughter of an elderly person who had received the service for sending local specialties to the senior citizen.
The report points out that the high turnover rate of service personnel, lack of uniform training standards, and unclear legal definitions of service relationships are real issues these services face. Establishing service standards, clarifying responsibilities on both sides, and safeguarding the rights of the elderly will determine the sustainable development of this industry.
Furthermore, not all elderly individuals are willing to accept help from strangers.
A woman named Su from Guangdong mentioned that when her father fell ill and required hospitalization in 2025, she couldn’t be there due to work, so she hired “shared children” service personnel online to accompany and care for him. However, her parents consistently declined the service. It wasn’t until she claimed the worker was a “friend helping out” that her parents reluctantly accepted.
This case highlights that apart from service prices and quality, the level of acceptance from the elderly, trust in strangers, and communication among family members all play roles in the actual effectiveness of such services.
The rise of “shared children” has sparked discussions on how the responsibilities of elder care should be distributed among families, the market, and the government.
According to reports from mainland Chinese media, during the National People’s Congress in 2026, representative Lu Xindi proposed using new mutual aid elder care models like “shared children” to address the elder care challenges facing empty-nest and solitary elderly individuals. Additionally, in March of this year, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and 11 other departments jointly promoted related work on mutual aid elder care.
Mutual aid elder care and commercial companion services can indeed provide extra support for some elderly individuals. For families with certain financial capabilities, paying for medical companionship, visits, and daily assistance can offer alternative services when children cannot personally care for them.
However, for elderly individuals with limited income, higher levels of disability, or those lacking familial support in arranging services, commercial companionship may not be an affordable option. These groups often rely more on stable, affordable, and long-term public elder care and support services.
Chinese issues scholar and current affairs commentator Wang He previously stated to Dajiyuan that a major issue faced by China’s silver economy is the inadequate income of elderly individuals. He noted that around 180 million people receive rural resident pensions, with monthly incomes averaging just over 200 yuan.
Wang He believes that the actual elderly population in China with significant consumption power is much smaller, only around 30 million people, much lower than what is generally imagined about the vast silver market.
This perspective highlights that with a significant elderly population, if there is insufficient income security and public care resources, even with an increasingly diverse range of market services, they may not necessarily cover the groups most in need of assistance.