Ministry of Health and Welfare Revises and Distributes 'Childcare Center Child Abuse Prevention and Response Manual'

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] A manual to prevent child abuse in childcare settings such as daycare centers has been created.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Childcare Promotion Institute announced on the 18th that they will revise the 'Daycare Center Child Abuse Prevention and Response Manual' so that daycare center directors, childcare teachers, and parents can easily understand and practice it.

The existing manual focused mainly on the actions of childcare staff as mandatory reporters of child abuse, and it was criticized for lacking measures to prevent and resolve abuse occurring within daycare centers.

The new manual has been comprehensively revised in response to these criticisms. It introduces the concept of 'negligent guidance' and proposes examples of negligent guidance and improvement measures for situations where abuse may occur. Negligent guidance (Maltreatment) is a concept derived from the 'Near Miss' in safety management and refers to a state in childcare settings where respect for young children is lacking or the opposite occurs.

For example, scolding a child during meals or snacks by saying, "You don't eat with your hands. You have to use a fork!" is defined as negligent guidance, and the manual recommends improving the guidance method to something like, "Do you like rice? Teacher also thinks rice is delicious! Shall we try eating with a fork?"

At the same time, the manual includes a collaborative approach among directors, childcare teachers, and parents for effective abuse prevention. Directors mediate the work environment of childcare teachers and negligent guidance, childcare teachers manage their own stress, and parents participate in daycare centers and take on the role of preventing child abuse at home, presenting a structure for mutual cooperation. Additionally, measures to alleviate job stress for childcare staff are also suggested.

Following this manual revision, education content will be developed in the second half of this year to provide training for 300 local government officials and daycare center directors. The revised manual will also be shared with administrative agencies such as local governments and the Ministry of Justice, as well as judicial institutions including prosecutors and police, to minimize confusion in child abuse prevention and response methods at daycare centers.

Yang Sung-il, the first vice minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said, "With the production and distribution of this revised and unified manual, we hope to actively mediate child abuse at the stage of negligent guidance between childcare staff and parents and enhance the ability to prevent and respond to abuse."

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