Single-Parent Facilities Should Shift from Accommodation to 'Visiting Care'

[The Crisis of Single Parents Part 2]

Feeling Anxiety in Shared Spaces
Children Need Their Own Space

Individual Support Eliminates Prejudice
Integrated Management of Jobs and Childcare Needed

[Asia Economy reporters Hyunju Lee and Byungseon Gong] As conflicts between single-parent facility operators and single parents persist, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the main administrative body, announced its plan to actively collect the opinions of residents and encourage facilities to operate accordingly.

On the 18th, a ministry official stated, "We plan to establish facility operation guidelines that are democratic and equal, ensuring no concerns about privacy invasion," adding, "Starting next year, when setting communal living rules in facilities, we will recommend going through an operation committee and collecting the opinions of residents." The facility operation committee consists of the facility director, representatives of facility residents, representatives of staff, local government officials from city, county, or district, local residents, public interest organization nominees, and social welfare experts. When establishing rules, the plan is to listen to the majority opinion of residents as well. The ministry holds the position that since 75% of single parents admitted to facilities are recipients of the National Basic Livelihood Security benefits and some require care or treatment due to developmental disabilities, state protection and support are necessary.

Experts agree that facilities are necessary for socioeconomically vulnerable single parents but emphasize that fundamental changes in single-parent support measures are needed. They argue that support should not be provided through facilities but rather that single parents should receive support simply by virtue of being single parents, and furthermore, conditions should be created so that parents can raise children on their own.

Professor Jinsook Lee of the Department of Social Welfare at Daegu University said, "For children to grow up happiest, they need their own space," adding, "Facilities are spaces where everything is shared, so children inevitably feel anxiety in such environments." Professor Lee emphasized, "Care that visits the home directly for the newborn child is necessary," and "Currently, educational support is facility-centered, but even if not admitted to a facility, full support for vocational education must follow." Oh Youngna, head of the Single Mother Support Network, said, "In the case of adolescent single mothers, someone is needed to take care of the child during education or skill acquisition processes to find a job," adding, "Support that comprehensively manages housing, academies, jobs, and parenting is necessary."

Changing to an individual support system rather than a shared space like a facility may also accelerate the disappearance of prejudice. Eunji Kim, director of the Family and Low Birthrate Center at the Korean Women's Development Institute, pointed out, "Current facilities do not guarantee a normal way of life," adding, "Facilities can serve as a temporary stepping stone, but they exclude the freedoms generally enjoyed." Director Kim further stated, "Single-parent families are forming new types of households, not as a result of wrongdoing," and "In Korean society, the standard for raising children is based on two parents, so it is seen as a problem, but a social standard that allows raising children alone must be established."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.