Two Children Also Recognized as 'Multiple Children'... Easier Admission to Daycare Centers

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The criteria for 'multiple children' in determining the priority order for daycare center admission have been significantly relaxed, and it is expected that families with two children will have increased opportunities to use daycare centers in the future.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on the 9th that it will publicly notify a partial amendment to the Enforcement Rules of the Infant Care Act containing these details from the 10th until May 22.

Currently, admission to daycare centers is conducted in order of scores calculated by summing the points assigned to each applicable priority item.

Priority 1 includes basic livelihood security recipients, families covered under Article 5 of the Single-Parent Family Support Act, low-income families, dual-income families, multicultural families, multiple children, and children of pregnant women.

Priority 2 includes general single-parent families, children under foster care, adopted infants and toddlers, and infants and toddlers who have siblings currently enrolled in the same daycare center.

The point allocation by priority is 100 points for Priority 1 and 50 points for Priority 2; among these, families with 'three or more children' or 'dual-income' receive a higher score of 200 points.

The government plans to change the criteria for the 'multiple children' category within Priority 1 daycare admissions from the current 'infants and toddlers in families with three or more children or families with two or more children aged 8 or younger or in second grade or below in elementary school' to 'families with two or more children.'

In this case, a dual-income family raising two children aged 10 and 3 and a dual-income family raising one 3-year-old child currently receive the same score of 200 points under the current enforcement rules if other conditions are equal. However, once the amended enforcement rules are implemented, the dual-income family with two children will receive 300 points and have priority in admission order.

This is because families with two children whose eldest child is over 8 years old or above second grade in elementary school will also be considered as having multiple children.

Organizations or individuals with opinions on this amendment can submit their feedback to the Childcare Policy Division of the Ministry of Health and Welfare by May 22.

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