Seodaemun-gu Operates Nation's First Independent Living Experience Housing for Facility-Protected Children

[Seoul District News] Seodaemun-gu Plans 'Living Alone' Experience for Youth Leaving Child Welfare Facilities, Providing One-Person Stays in Four Studio Apartments for About a Month, Extending Up to Three Months Next Year to Practice Daily Life, Self-Protection, and Money Management

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Seodaemun-gu (Mayor Lee Seong-heon) has been operating the nation’s first ‘Independent Living Experience Housing for Facility-Protected Children’ in a building in Cheonnyeon-dong since last month.

The district has prepared four studio apartments here and is conducting a ‘Living Alone Experience’ event.

The participants are youths about to leave six child welfare facilities in the area (two child care facilities and four group homes).

The district prepared this project to help them adapt to life after leaving the facilities.

The duration of stay here is about one month, and they receive a living allowance of 500,000 KRW.

They use the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s ‘Independent Living Experience Workbook’ to create plans for daily life, self-protection, money management, and career planning, and then experience living according to these plans.

Also, a ‘Community Manager’ works in a separate office within the same building to support the activities and safety of the youths living in the independent living experience housing.

A boy identified as A, who participated last month, said, “Although I received a lot of education about independence at the child welfare facility, I didn’t realize its importance. After experiencing it, I thought I should learn as much as possible before leaving.”

Girl B shared her thoughts, saying, “I didn’t know living on a fixed amount of money was this hard. I feel like I’m getting a sense of living alone, and some of the stress has eased.”

Boy C said, “Because prices are high, I realized I need to spend money carefully, and I also became aware of my level of independence.”

Lee Seong-heon, Mayor of Seodaemun-gu, stated, “We operate the independent living experience housing so that youths who must leave the facilities and live on their own as adults can reduce their fear of independence and feel the need to prepare themselves. Starting next year, we plan to extend the experience period to up to three months.”

Seodaemun-gu plans to conduct a satisfaction survey targeting 14 youths who will live in the independent living experience housing until the end of next month and reflect the results in next year’s plans.

Meanwhile, the district supports facility-protected children’s independence not only through the experience housing but also by providing independent capacity-building education, one-on-one mentoring, and interview negotiations between protected children and their families.

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