hankyoreh

By Park Su-ji, staff reporter

Up until last year, eleven-year-old “Min-soo” still had not been potty-trained. He soiled his clothes at school and at home, and he was incapable of expressing himself. His mother never taught him what to do when he urinated in his pants; she just beat him. He never knew his father.

It was only after a neighbor reported the apparent signs of abuse that child protection services decided to remove him from his mother‘s care and take custody of him. At the agency’s request, he was placed in May 2013 at a children’s joint living home in Gwangju.

“Like war” was how the home’s director, 35-year-old social worker Kim Woon-soo, described the six months after Min-soo came to live there. Because the boy was not potty-trained, his bedding had to be washed three times a day. At the same time, he also learned how to use a spoon and to say what he wanted and didn‘t want. Today, he doesn’t draw maps on the bedding anymore. But it’s uncertain whether he will be able to stay at the group home until he reaches adulthood.

The facility, home to seven children like Min-soo who cannot live with their parents because of abuse or neglect, does not receive any funding from the government. It’s a “home-environment facility,” established in the mid-1990s by volunteers frustrated over the problems with larger childcare facilities. In 2004, it officially became a child welfare facility drawing support according to the Child Welfare Act.

The administration and academics agree that it is better for children who need protection to be raised in regular homes rather than larger childcare facilities.

“As child custody facilities go, the best option is a group home, where qualified social workers are caring for the children like family, and the government can monitor the situation,” said Kim Hyeong-tae, a social welfare professor at Seoul Christian University.

A total of 2,480 children were living at one of South Korea’s 483 group homes as of the end of 2013. For each one, around 1.5 million won (US$1,440) a month is provided in support for proprietor and care staff costs, along with 240,000 won (US$230) for facility operation.

But 67 of the homes, or 14%, receive no subsidies at all, forcing the operators to go into debt caring for the children. Some do receive local government support, but in most cases the proprietor funds the operation.

The problem is the government’s failure to set a large enough budget. Under the current system, one home receiving support has to shut down before another home can get funded.

“I started the group home because I wanted to care for children who had been hurt,” said one former proprietor who shut down a group home in Gwangju after two years and two months because of a lack of government support.

“The children and I only ended up getting hurt more,” the proprietor tearfully added.

Jeong Soon-seon, 53, had run a group home in Daejeon for over two years before finally giving up two months ago.

“I started out using some savings I had, but I ended up taking out loans and using my credit cards,” Jeong said. “I got into over 50 million won (US$47,900) in debt, and I couldn‘t keep going. It just got so hard waiting and waiting to see if the support would come.”

The children are finding themselves twice abandoned - once by their parents, and now by the government.

“Raising children in protective care is 100% the state’s responsibility, so it’s just shameful that so many facilities remain unfunded,” said Song Joon-heon, head of the child welfare policy division at the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

“We’ve made it our top priority to acquire group home support in the government‘s 2015 budget,” Song added.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]