Foster Parents Unable to Consent to Emergency Surgery for Children... 8 Out of 10 Say "Unreasonable"

Eight out of ten citizens believe it is unreasonable that foster parents are unable to consent to emergency surgeries for foster children.

Kim Kiseon, Director of the Policy Improvement Bureau at the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, is speaking at the Government Complex Sejong. Photo by Yonhap News

On September 22, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission announced that, according to a survey on the foster care system conducted with 3,476 citizens between August 25 and September 7, 84.3% of respondents considered it unreasonable that foster parents cannot sign surgical consent forms for foster children simply because they are not legal guardians.

Foster parents care for children who cannot be looked after by their birth families due to reasons such as parental death, abuse, or divorce. However, under the law, they are regarded as cohabitants without any legal authority.

The survey also revealed that 73.3% of respondents found it unreasonable that subsidies are provided differently depending on the local government. Additionally, 61.1% of respondents believed that support for foster families is "over 700,000 won per month," which is a significant overestimation. Currently, the actual support ranges from 300,000 to 500,000 won per month, varying by local government.

The survey highlighted a low level of awareness regarding the foster care system. A total of 71.6% of respondents said they had "never heard of it" or "heard of it but did not know the details."

However, there was a strong willingness to support foster families. 78.8% of respondents expressed a positive intention to provide "financial support," and 86.4% were willing to "participate in talent donation" for foster families.

When asked about measures to promote the foster care system, respondents cited "realistic child-rearing allowances without regional disparities and stronger national responsibility (37.1%)," "granting foster parents minimum legal authority for matters such as medical consent and opening bank accounts (29.5%)," and "large-scale public campaigns to raise awareness of the importance of foster care (17.0%)."

Kim Kiseon, Director of the Policy Improvement Bureau at the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, stated, "We will faithfully reflect the opinions expressed in this survey in our policy improvement proposals so that the public’s views are incorporated into policy implementation."

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