Mapo-gu Opens 'Cheokkeut Center' for Customized Management of Non-Single Mothers

About 4% of Births Last Year Were Outside Marriage; Mapo-gu Opens 'Cheokkeut Center' to Support Single Mothers Without Prejudice
...From Basic Prenatal Pregnancy Health Care to Customized Welfare Services Tailored to Recipients' Living Environment and Economic Conditions... Mayor Park Gang-su: "We Will Do Our Best to Support Single Mothers So They Do Not Give Up Childbirth and Parenting Due to Social Prejudice and Economic Hardship"

According to Statistics Korea, the number of births outside of marriage reported last year reached 9,800, accounting for 3.9% of all births, highlighting the need for social attention and management on this issue.

Women who become pregnant outside of marriage often face social prejudice and environmental factors that lead them to give up childbirth or find it difficult to openly share their pregnancy with family or those around them. As a result, they frequently miss timely access to information about pregnancy and childbirth, public services, and economic counseling support.

In fact, a March audit revealed that from 2015 to last year, there were 2,236 unreported births of infants, causing significant social shock.

In response, Mapo-gu (Mayor Park Gang-su) announced the opening of the Cheokkeut Center on the 2nd floor of the Mapo-gu Public Health Center to support unmarried mothers facing such difficulties, with operations starting from November 30.

The term "bi(honmo)" (non-married mothers) removes the socially discriminatory connotations associated with the previous term "mi(honmo)" (unmarried mothers) and encompasses teenage pregnant women, single, divorced, and widowed single mothers. The Mapo-gu Cheokkeut Center is a facility that supports bi(honmo) to receive integrated care comfortably from the beginning to the end of pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting.

The Cheokkeut Center in Mapo-gu staffs professional nurses who register and manage pregnant women through counseling when bi(honmo) visit.

While providing basic prenatal pregnancy health management services, medical expense support, and nutritional supplements as part of universal maternal health care, the center assesses the living environment, economic conditions, and psychological state of the individuals and connects them with various local welfare facilities and services such as Mapo Aeranwon and single-parent family welfare counseling centers.

Through the Mental Health Welfare Center, specialized psychological counseling for depression or trauma is available, and medical expenses for teenage mothers’ pregnancy and childbirth, as well as for premature or congenital anomaly infants, are also supported.

After childbirth, infant health nurses visit homes to jointly manage the health of mothers and newborns. In addition to basic childbirth encouragement support, the Mapo-gu Family Happiness Support Division provides child-rearing expenses, transportation costs, and education expenses for bi(honmo) and fathers. If necessary, parenting coaching and self-help group communities for bi(honmo) and fathers are also supported.

Moreover, housing stability is pursued through vocational education and self-support work assistance for low-income homeless single-parent families, public rental housing, and the Mapo Jingeomdari Housing Project.

The district expects that by comprehensively identifying, guiding, and supporting bi(honmo) support projects previously promoted by various departments at the Mapo-gu Cheokkeut Center, thorough management from the first counseling visit through childbirth and parenting will be possible.

Park Gang-su, Mayor of Mapo-gu, stated, “In the current situation where family structures are diversifying and birth rates are hitting record lows every year, no one should give up childbirth and parenting due to social prejudice or practical difficulties. We will do our best to operate the newly opened Mapo-gu Cheokkeut Center so that it can accompany all bi(honmo) in the region throughout their pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting process.”

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