Seoul City 'Basic Support Plan for People with Developmental Disabilities', 350 Billion Won Invested by 2025... Support for Elderly Care of People with Developmental Disabilities

Announcement of 5 Policy Tasks, 14 Core Tasks, and 31 Detailed Projects
Support for Elderly Transition Services for Those Aged 40 and Above to Address Post-Parental Care Gaps

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government has finalized the second phase of the "Basic Support Plan for People with Developmental Disabilities," investing 350 billion KRW by 2025 to ensure continuous care for people with developmental disabilities even after their parents' passing. It also facilitates connections to alleviate the social isolation of parents raising children with developmental disabilities.

On the 4th, Seoul announced the second phase of the Basic Support Plan following the first phase in 2017, focusing on "elderly support" to address care gaps after the primary caregivers?parents?pass away, support for responding to challenging behaviors of people with developmental disabilities, and the establishment of a "smart service infrastructure" that integrates welfare and technology. People with developmental disabilities face difficulties in independent living due to cognitive and communication impairments and require significant assistance from others, placing a heavy burden on their families.

The second phase introduces elderly support, expanding beyond the previous focus on school-age to young adult support, and adds support for workers responding to challenging behaviors exhibited not only by facility users with developmental disabilities but also by staff. While the past five years emphasized expanding social welfare service infrastructure, the focus now shifts to enhancing operational quality and fostering organic connections and coordination among various service delivery systems.

The second phase of the Basic Support Plan for People with Developmental Disabilities aims to create a "Seoul where people with developmental disabilities enjoy their desired daily lives and futures," investing 349.7 billion KRW by 2025 to implement 31 detailed projects under 14 core tasks across five major policy areas. These five areas are: ▲ Strengthening lifelong planning support ▲ Expanding foundations for self-directed living and independence ▲ Enhancing community inclusiveness and fostering a culture of empathy ▲ Establishing crisis response systems and expanding family support ▲ Building a smart service infrastructure integrating welfare and technology.

To strengthen lifelong planning support, early diagnosis and treatment systems for children with developmental disabilities will be reinforced, after-school activity services for adolescent students with developmental disabilities and daytime activity services for adults will be expanded, and specialized services for elderly people with developmental disabilities will be newly introduced. To expand foundations for self-directed living and independence, the number of individualized support plans will increase, specialized jobs for people with developmental disabilities will be developed, and support housing and care services for people with disabilities will be expanded.

To enhance community inclusiveness and foster a culture of empathy, training to strengthen the capabilities of staff at facilities with many users exhibiting challenging behaviors will be supported, physical environment improvements to reduce stimuli triggering challenging behaviors in disability facilities will be promoted, and awareness-raising support for developmental disabilities will be strengthened. Additionally, to establish crisis response systems and expand family support, the plan introduces the identification and focused support of high-risk households with people with developmental disabilities, expands public guardianship for those with decision-making difficulties, and prevents social isolation of parents through mentorship connections between senior and junior parents of children with developmental disabilities.

Furthermore, to build a smart service infrastructure integrating welfare and technology, a smart developmental training welfare center utilizing digital technology will be established. The use of AI technology for behavior recognition and automatic recording systems will reduce caregiving burdens, and electronic tool development using smart devices will support communication for people with developmental disabilities.

Jung Soo-yong, Director of Welfare Policy at Seoul City, said, "We deeply empathized with the heartfelt wish of parents of people with developmental disabilities to live even one day longer than their children and have strived to prepare support measures that meet their evolving needs across various fields." He added, "We will continue to pay close attention and provide policy consideration to create a community care environment that embraces people with developmental disabilities, enabling them to enjoy their desired daily lives and futures in Seoul."

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