Gyeonggi-do to Expand Child Protection Officers by 30%

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province will expand the number of 'Child Protection Officers' by 30% this year.

On the 24th, Gyeonggi Province announced that it will deploy a total of 117 Child Protection Officers, an increase of 30% compared to last year, who are responsible for establishing protection plans and conducting follow-up management for children under protection.

Child Protection Officers have been operated by city and county governments since 2020 with support from the government and metropolitan local governments, in accordance with the government's 'Public-Centered Child Protection System Establishment' plan.

Unlike child abuse response officials who mainly handle initial responses to urgent issues such as child abuse, these officers care for children under protection from a long-term and integrated perspective.

When a child under protection is identified, the officers take responsibility for the local government to protect the child by conducting counseling, health checkups, and psychological tests to establish individualized protection and management plans.

Based on the protection plan, they regularly check the child's caregiving situation to ensure that protection is being provided in the best interest of the child.

In particular, they are responsible for follow-up management necessary to prevent children from re-entering the protection system after protection ends and to support their independence.

The number of Child Protection Officers in cities and counties within the province was 36 in 2020, 90 in 2021, and will expand to a total of 117 by October this year. Due to the required expertise, only those with social worker certification and work experience in the social welfare field can be hired.

To strengthen the province's role compared to the previous year, the province decided to actively utilize the 'Regional Child Protection Specialized Institution,' which started metropolitan-level operations for the first time nationwide in March this year.

A provincial official emphasized, "We will listen to difficulties and discover support projects so that capable city and county Child Protection Officers can actively perform their duties in the field," adding, "As the command headquarters, we will do our best to ensure that children under protection can grow up safely."

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