Abstract
Over the past 20 years, the Korean government has developed child welfare laws to respond to an increasing number of child maltreatment cases and create a centralized child welfare delivery system. However, the system remains fragmented and under-developed due to a lack of understanding of child maltreatment and limited government support. Further, few studies have comprehensively reviewed the system. This study examines the Korean child welfare system, identifies challenges for child welfare policies and services, and discusses the implications for future policy; the results can be used to improve the safety, permanency, and well-being of children and families in Korea. The analysis shows that the government has prioritized family preservation over removal from families, even in substantiated cases of abuse. However, ensuring the safety of children in Korea will require not only working to preserve families but also developing and implementing better options for in-home services and out-of-home placement.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 33-44 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | International Journal of Social Welfare |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2022 Jan |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Part of this article builds on a chapter in the International Handbook of Child Protection Systems (eds. Berrick, Gibert & Skivenes, forthcoming in 2021). The current study expands the chapter by, among other things, adding an examination of foster care and adoption to provide a full picture of the child welfare system in Korea, discussing the major legal changes that have occurred since 2018, and utilizing new frameworks to examine the subject matter.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Akademikerförbundet SSR (ASSR) and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Sociology and Political Science