Seoul City Expands 'Life Cycle Customized Support' for 190,000 Multicultural Families

Support for Multicultural Families by Life Cycle: Care Services, Child Development, and Employment Assistance

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government is expanding tailored support for multicultural families living in Seoul according to their life cycle stages.

According to Seoul City on the 12th, there are 187,239 multicultural families residing in the city. The number of marriage immigrants increased by more than 7%, from 29,455 in 2010 to 31,661 in 2020. Naturalized citizens increased by 275%, from 11,668 to 43,769, and children of multicultural families (domestically born minors) rose significantly by 139%, from 13,789 to 33,039.

Since 2014, Seoul has established the "Basic Plan for Foreign Residents and Multicultural Family Policies" to promote various support projects that help multicultural families settle stably in local communities. Especially this year, the city plans to expand life cycle-based tailored support by strengthening care services, child growth support, and employment assistance.

First, the number of medical interpreters for the "Multicultural Family Prenatal and Postnatal Care Service" will be increased from 25 to 35, and a mobile program for medical interpreter reservations will be operated to make the service more convenient to use. The prenatal and postnatal care service for multicultural families supports marriage immigrants experiencing pregnancy and childbirth with hospital visits and childcare, providing medical interpretation, childbirth classes, psychological and emotional counseling, and parenting mentoring.

Additionally, multicultural family women using district family centers will be provided with a "time-based childcare service" so they can participate in programs such as Korean language education without childcare burdens. This year, the number of care workers will be increased to 15, and the number of district family centers operating the service will be expanded to six, strengthening the care services.

Furthermore, to help children of multicultural families grow healthily as members of our society, home education services, career and academic support programs, and FC soccer classes will continue to be operated. The home learning support project visits homes of children of multicultural families and foreign residents aged 3 to 15 to provide basic education such as Korean language, reading, and Chinese characters, supporting 1,200 children this year.

Kim Seon-soon, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Women and Family Policy Office, said, “As the number of multicultural families living in Seoul continues to increase, Seoul is implementing policies tailored to their life cycles to help them settle stably. We will continue to discover and provide detailed support through customized policies befitting the status of Seoul as a global city.”

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