Seongbuk-gu Conducts Comprehensive Survey of At-Risk Children to Prevent Child Abuse

Seongbuk-gu to Conduct Comprehensive Survey of At-Risk Children by End of March... Face-to-Face Investigations for 150 High-Risk Children Including Those Unvaccinated, Without Health Checkups, or Not Receiving Child Allowance; Local Community Center Officials to Visit Homes Directly

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Seongbuk-gu (Mayor Seungro Lee) will conduct a comprehensive survey of at-risk children until the end of March to prevent child abuse in advance and to prevent recurrence of similar incidents.

This survey will utilize various social security big data (a total of 43 types of information) and target 150 high-risk children who possess variables highly related to the occurrence of child abuse, such as missed vaccinations, missed health checkups, and non-application for child allowances.

Due to social distancing and non-face-to-face education caused by COVID-19, opportunities to meet children directly have decreased. In such circumstances, concerns about undetected at-risk children suffering from child abuse have increased.

Considering the high demand to minimize care gaps, Seongbuk-gu applies the principle of face-to-face investigation, where the public officials in charge at the local community service center of the child's location directly visit the respective households.

The responsible public officials meet the child and guardian in person to inspect the caregiving environment, identify welfare needs, and confirm demand for service support to facilitate linkage.

Also, if signs of child abuse are found during the visit, they immediately report to the police and the district’s dedicated child abuse public officials, who then conduct in-depth investigations and case management.

Seongbuk-gu established a Child Protection Team in July last year and assigned three dedicated child abuse public officials. In November, to ensure rapid and professional response to child abuse crises, they signed a business agreement with the Child Protection Agency and the local police station, and have been conducting child abuse prevention education for public officials, residents, and mandatory reporters.

In 2021, through cooperation with the Child Protection Agency, the Office of Education, and the police station, Seongbuk-gu plans to further strengthen the child abuse response system, focusing on discovering at-risk children, safety inspections, child abuse prevention education, and publicity.

Seungro Lee, Mayor of Seongbuk-gu, stated, “At a time when awareness of child abuse is higher than ever, we will do our best to protect the safety of even a single child from crisis situations such as abuse and neglect by building a child abuse response system that is closely connected to residents’ daily lives.”