120 Dasan Call Center-Linked Vulnerable Households 'Welfare Counseling Centers' Operated in 25 Autonomous Districts

Emergency Welfare Hotline Operation... Intensive Emergency Consultation and Support by Autonomous Districts

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul City will operate welfare counseling centers linked with the 120 Dasan Call Center in all 25 autonomous districts to ensure that vulnerable households in crisis situations can receive professional counseling and prompt assistance, preventing incidents like the ‘Suwon Three Mothers’ case from happening again.

According to Seoul City on the 16th, the welfare counseling centers provide direct counseling support by social welfare officers, unify the emergency counseling system for households in crisis to speed up support, and comprehensively guide the welfare services available to these households through counseling.

To help households facing economic emergencies stabilize their lives quickly, Seoul will actively promote Seoul-type emergency welfare (living expenses) advance support. For urgent crisis households, living expenses will be prioritized for initial support even if they exceed the support criteria, and thereafter, all possible linkage measures will be sought, including public support such as basic livelihood security, emergency welfare support, Care SOS services, as well as private resources.

In particular, Seoul plans to prepare and implement comprehensive improvement measures to establish a meticulous care system and various discovery methods to ensure that no household is excluded from welfare systems or socially isolated. Using big data on crisis signs, high-risk indicators will be selected and surveyed for each district considering the social and environmental characteristics of the region, and the possibility of discovery will be increased by conducting a full survey of highly effective information such as the ‘household head death’ indicator.

To identify medically vulnerable groups, Seoul will collaborate with local medical organizations such as hospitals and pharmacies to install ‘Welfare Counseling Center’ signboards, actively guiding residents in blind spots who frequently visit medical institutions to easily receive help. Additionally, starting in October, a Socially Isolated Household Support Center will be newly established to serve as a control tower for crisis households by providing not only counseling on welfare services but also specialized consultations in legal and financial fields.

Kim Sang-han, Director of Seoul City Welfare Policy Office, said, “We will diversify linkage measures to welfare systems that can support the discovered households to resolve their actual crises,” and added, “Citizens in need of help are encouraged to contact the 120 Dasan Call Center or directly reach out to the welfare counseling centers in their respective districts without hesitation at any time.”

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