Abstract: Since the 1980s, the one-child policy implemented in China has promoted economic and social development. At the same time, due to various accidental deaths and disabilities of the only child in the families, the parents over the age of 60 who can no longer bear children have also become a group of "old people who have lost their independence". The traditional family guarantee of "raising children to support the elderly" and male inheritance culture cause the elderly who have lost their independence to face various life difficulties and psychological trauma. They are in a dilemma that cannot be solved by themselves. Social assistance has become the most basic security system for the elderly who have lost their independence to maintain their basic life and obtain psychological comfort. This kind of social assistance is based on the theory of social organism, social support and state obligation. At present, there are still some problems in the social assistance work for the elderly who have lost their independence, such as the lack of specialized legislation, the unclear content and subject of social assistance, and the low state and local assistance funds. Based on this, this paper analyzes the current situation of social assistance for the elderly who have lost their independence and the legal protection mechanism, and puts forward workable countermeasures in combination with reality, and puts forward the institutional framework of social assistance for the elderly who have lost their independence in China.

Key words: the only-child-lost elderly, social assistance, state obligations, legal construction