[사회][인터뷰투데이] Plenty of Jeong-in bills, child abuse prevention system, right this time?

■ Progress: Lee Jae-yoon anchor
■ Cast: Ikjoong Jung / Professor, Department of Social Welfare, Ewha Womans University

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information.

[앵커]

Police Commissioner Kim Chang-ryong made an emergency public apology yesterday for the incident. Several measures to prevent recurrence have also been proposed, but public opinion remains inconsistent.

As you have just heard, in the National Assembly, Jung-in is asking for an urgent pending question about the case. We will diagnose the effectiveness of the various countermeasures against child abuse under discussion with an expert and how to solve them.

Ik-joong Jung, a professor at the Department of Social Welfare at Ewha Womans University, is connected by phone. Professor Jeong, yesterday afternoon, the chief of police made an emergency apology to the public. But public opinion is still stinging.

Are there any criticisms that it is too late for Jung In-yi to apologize three months after her death?

[정익중]

It would have been better if you had apologized sooner because the police must have done this wrong. Anyway, I think it would be great if I could learn lessons from this opportunity.

[앵커]

First, through yesterday’s announcement, Yangcheon Seojang was placed on standby. We also promised to establish a department dedicated to child abuse. How do you evaluate the measures put forward by the police?

[정익중]

It is difficult to determine exactly what a department dedicated to child abuse is, but it is important to be within the police office, but it is very important that people with high expertise in child abuse participate in the investigation. To do so, education is important and experience is important.

So, I wonder if it’s very important to create a system that enables long-term service and promotion in this position. The most impressive thing I saw in the Korean Civil Affairs Division is the fact-finding. I hope to reflect these things.

[앵커]

So, when it comes to fact-finding, you have to look into this part of what was handled after receiving the report of child abuse in the case of Yangcheon-seo, right?

[정익중]

Yes, that’s right. Since not only that part, but also all procedures and processes, many agencies and organizations other than the police are involved, I wonder if there should be a public fact-finding investigation on that part.

I can’t come back because the child died, but I wonder if the lessons left by this child must be saved.

[앵커]

After Lee Jung-in’s case was revealed, various measures have been taken. The problem is that the solution is coming out with Junggu heating, will this work properly in the field? There are some points that are possible and realistic measures in the case of various budget or manpower issues that can support something?

[정익중]

Two or three children are still dying a month. However, whenever there was such an incident, the media reported eagerly, and the government conducted a thorough investigation and prepared comprehensive measures. Make a lot of laws. But what if we don’t have the manpower and budget to do it?

There is no change. It seems that only those in the field are getting more into the process of making it harder and not doing this for long.

[앵커]

Let’s look at each one in detail. The most controversial part of the child abuse case is that the abuse should have been detected early. However, there is also a saying that it is not easy to accurately determine whether or not abuse is on the front line. What is the situation?

[정익중]

The actuality of abuse is important, but there are many cases where all the abuse is over if we call out after we report it. In the case of infants and toddlers like Jung In-i, they cannot talk again, and that is why they have no choice but to rely on the statements of their parents. For this reason, it is difficult to do a proper investigation, but if they have a lot of experience and expertise, you should be able to find such tiny clues.

Otherwise, they are said to be experts, but in reality there is nothing that parents can do if their parents refuse, especially in the case of a child abuse officer or a counselor at a specialized child protection agency.

There are no compulsory investigation rights and no compulsory case management rights. I would like to give these people such authority to conduct forced investigations.

[앵커]

Right now, in relation to child abuse, forced investigation is essentially impossible?

[정익중]

So the police can. There is nothing that can be done in the case of a child abuse officer or a counselor at a specialized child protection organization.

[앵커]

Then, in the end, the police should investigate precisely, but a police officer in Yangcheon-seo, which is now the problem, said that child abuse cannot be viewed as child abuse unless the child has a broken bone or a torn wound somewhere. . Is this the standard?

[정익중]

So, there are a lot of serious crimes in the crimes that the police mainly deal with. To them, the crime of child abuse would seem very trivial. But it’s because children can die from these petty crimes.

So, you have to think that you can die from all child abuse, and you have to approach it, but the content related to child abuse is not important and there is no dedicated department, so it seems to be treated as trivial.

So, it would be very important to make sure that specialized personnel are able to work in the police.

[앵커]

i See. So the police expertise is a problem. By the way, when the police investigate, don’t the officials of the specialized child protection agency go with them?

[정익중]

Yes, that’s right.

[앵커]

Then, you have to make an appropriate judgment here, but there is actually a story about expertise here. It is pointed out whether it is insufficient.

[정익중]

Child abuse counselors swear by the abused parents at best. If not, I am doing things that criticize the people. But the treatment is not high. The heavy workload, poor treatment, and personal threats from the perpetrators are inevitable. As a result, the turnover rate is inevitably high, and the average tenure is only 2-3 years.

It is only half of the years of service in these similar businesses. Because of this, I cannot develop professionalism.

[앵커]

Like the police, child protection agencies also have limitations in their expertise. Among the countermeasures now, the government has announced that it plans to create a law that allows children to be immediately separated in case of reporting child abuse twice a year, and is expected to be implemented in March. There is also controversy over this.

Is the standard of twice a year really proper? So, if you can find it twice, isn’t child abuse already quite advanced?

[정익중]

Reported means that the abuse has already progressed several times. So even if you report it once, you can separate it. In some cases, even if you report twice, you may be left behind.

Many of you may think that separation is the solution to everything, but separation is the beginning. There can also be shocks to children due to separation.

So, there is no right place to go again after separation. This is a reality where counselors have to find a place to send their children after separation. So, there is no right place to send, and if these children are separated, there is a place called a shelter for abused children, but now there are only 76 places.

This is a ridiculous number. Compared to the number of reported child abuse. So, although this part should be improved, I think maybe it will be possible to separate it at the actual site.

[앵커]

So even if you immediately separate, you mean that there is no institution to accept these children?

[정익중]

right. So, I don’t understand that there is no right place to receive it and the counselor has to find this.

[앵커]

Need to find an agent?

[정익중]

So, for children with disabilities, there is no right place to send. Children with disabilities can also be subjected to abuse. In that case, you have to contact the disabled facilities nationwide, the counselor. I have a structure like this… Shouldn’t there be places where counselors can be sent immediately if separated? In that sense, the infrastructure is too scarce.

I have already done all that I can do with the law or words. Having a manpower and budget to do these things is so important.

[앵커]

You are saying that there is no manpower to do so right now and there is no budget.

[정익중]

Yes.

[앵커]

Even if the immediate separation system is implemented, it is true that there is no place to receive children, but it is bound to be a mana bill. By the way, how many cases are reported as child abuse per year?

[정익중]

That’s 30,000. There will be more than 30,000 cases, but in any case, there are many people who are very dissatisfied with the protection of the original family. It is not wrong to protect the original family.

The problem is that the original family is not safe, but leaving it behind. The original family is not safe, so returning it is a problem. We are the abusers as well as their protectors.

It is so important that these parents are properly educated, trained, counseled, and treated so that they can be good parents. But now, those parts are also very lacking.

[앵커]

I also looked at the data, and as of 2019, only 12% of all reports of abuse were separated from families. Most of them just say that they stay at home even after receiving a report of abuse, but the principle of protection of the original family is what you have as a basic principle regarding child abuse, right?

[정익중]

Yes in all countries. It’s not just Korea. As I said before, the abused parent is both the perpetrator and the protector.

That is why it is very important to protect the original family, but I think that the problem is not that the principle is the problem, but the reality that the original family is left unsafe, or that the original family is not safe and must be returned.

[앵커]

So, although it is said that it is because of the principle of protecting the original family, you said that it is a problem to return the child to the home in a state where the safety of the child is not secured.

[정익중]

Yes. Parental rights are so important that they can no longer hold onto them, and after a certain period of time, the child must be returned after a certain period of time.

As I mentioned now, there is not enough infrastructure, lack of manpower, and lack of budget. So fact-finding is very important.

We need to clearly understand where we have done something wrong and improve that part. Now, only things that can be done with words are pouring out. , I think.

[앵커]

In the case of Jung In-i, it is the case that Jeong In-i was adopted through the Holt Children’s Welfare Association. That’s why criticism is pouring into the Holt Children’s Welfare Society. Some point out that the adoption system needs to be modified. What do you think about this?

[정익중]

It seems that our country lacks understanding of various families. Abuse occurs in all forms of home. However, there are many cases of interest only in abuse by stepparents or adoptive parents. In fact, the rate of abuse is the lowest among adoptees.

So I definitely have a point to improve the adoption system. However, I am worried that this incident will lead to prejudice against families who have started adopting with a good heart, or that interest in adoption will decrease.

Adoption can be the best way to protect children when they can’t take care of them in their own home. However, in Korea, adoption is not very much due to low awareness of adoption.

So, I wonder if it would be nice if you could develop such a warm heart, such a regretful heart for Jeong In-i, with an interest in adoption.

[앵커]

So, you are saying that there are some negative views on adoption because of this incident, but that is not?

[정익중]

Yes. That is why we are worried that there will be prejudice against adoptive families. There are so many great people. I think it’s so important that such people can continue to adopt and that others can participate in adoption with a good heart.

[앵커]

Okay. Jung In pointed out the contents related to the incident. We spoke with Jeong In-joong, professor of social welfare at Ewha Womans University. I listened to you today. thank you.

[정익중]

Thank you.