Minister Jeong Young-ae Visits Family Center: "Eliminating Policy Blind Spots for All Families"

Listening to Opinions from Single-Person Households, Single-Parent, and Multicultural Families

On the 7th, Jeong Young-ae, Minister of Gender Equality and Family, held a meeting at the Family Center in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, where she exchanged opinions with families using the center and discussed facility usage.

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] On the 7th, Jung Young-ae, Minister of Gender Equality and Family, visited the Yangcheon-gu Family Center in Seoul and held a meeting with families using the center.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is supporting the construction of family center facilities through a complex project of living social infrastructure (SOC) to improve residents' accessibility. The Yangcheon-gu Family Center is equipped with a Youth Counseling Welfare Center and an Out-of-School Youth Support Center within the administrative complex town.

On this day, Minister Jung toured the family center, checked the quarantine situation, and met with single-person households, single-parent families, multicultural families, dual-income families, and others to exchange opinions on facility use.

Mr. Park Chil-don, who attended the meeting, said, "After participating in support programs for single-person households such as cooking and interior design, I started taking care of myself and changed to a positive personality," adding, "I hope the support programs for single-person households will be expanded further."

Ms. Park Soo-yeon, who uses the joint childcare sharing center, said, "Compared to private facilities, accessibility is good and affordable, and since only 2 to 3 families use it by time slot and disinfection and other quarantine measures are carried out frequently, I can trust and use it," adding, "If local family centers and elementary care spaces are expanded, I think I will continue to use them even after my child becomes an elementary school student."

Ms. Kim Soo-in, who participated in the multicultural family children support program, said, "Raising a child alone was economically and psychologically difficult, but the help of the case management teacher for marriage immigrants was a great support."

In addition to constructing family centers, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family plans to expand universal family services by promoting new projects such as support for single-person households and adolescent parents starting in 2022.

Minister Jung Young-ae said, "Due to environmental changes such as the increase in single-person households, the spread of COVID-19, and deepening stratification, the importance of family services has grown," adding, "regardless of family type, we will work continuously to eliminate policy blind spots so that all families can receive the necessary services and to expand universal family services."