[사설] Start with facilities to safely separate and protect abused children

As the controversy spread over the case of Jung-in, an adopted child who died due to the abuse of her adoptive parents, the ruling and opposition parties poured out legislation to prevent child abuse. On the 8th, the National Assembly handled the amendment of the Child Abuse Punishment Act, incorporating 18 related bills initiated by the opposition parties.

The revised bill of the Child Abuse Punishment Act contained content requiring that an investigation and investigation be initiated immediately upon reporting. In addition, child abuse actors and victims were investigated separately, and the level of punishment was raised if they interfered with the work of police officers and child abuse officials. Although the National Assembly has speeded up the process of the bill, criticism has been raised for pushing the legislation without sufficient review. Experts are concerned that it could make victims more dangerous.

In particular, the amendment to the Child Welfare Act passed in December of last year said that children who received reports of suspected abuse more than twice a year should be immediately separated from their parents.

There are only 57 shelters for children nationwide, and they are already saturated. There are about 1,000 children that the shelter can accommodate, and 2,776 children were abused more than once in 2019. Even if they are immediately isolated from their parents, they have nowhere to stay. Specialized foster homes to protect abused children are in operation, but as there is no government support, only 60 children are cared for here. There is also a large shortage of personnel dedicated to child abuse. There are only 290 public officials in charge of child abuse across the country, and 6362 children are handled by an abuse prevention police officer (APO).

Given this situation, only 14% of the 24,000 cases of abuse from January to November last year were separated from the perpetrator. It is not because there is no system for separating victims from children, but because of lack of protection facilities and lack of field expertise. The National Assembly is scheduled to further discuss strengthening punishment for perpetrators at an extraordinary National Assembly in February, but rather than rushing to legislate due to public opinion, the order is to investigate the actual situation. It is necessary to come up with a fundamental solution by listening to the voices of field experts and expanding facilities and dedicated personnel.
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