[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] A total of 2,357 cases of child abuse have been reported in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province over the past four years. Notably, 86% of the perpetrators were biological parents.
Suwon City disclosed the results of a study on the actual conditions of child abuse and protection policies conducted by the Local Administration Development Institute on the 18th.
According to the study conducted by the institute over six months from March, targeting 1,067 children, 650 adults including guardians, and 294 mandatory reporters, the number of suspected child abuse reports received since 2018 were 918 in 2018, 970 in 2019, 670 in 2020, and 1,097 in 2021.
Among these, 2,357 cases were confirmed as child abuse, with 1,132 cases involving boys and 1,225 cases involving girls.
The age group of the abused children was highest among school-age children (7?12 years), followed by adolescents (13?18 years) and preschool children (4?6 years).
In 2021, school-age children accounted for 42.5%, adolescents 36.8%, and preschool children 11.8%.
As of 2021, the family type of abused children was predominantly biological parent families at 61.1%. Single-mother families accounted for 15.5%, and remarried families 7.3%.
The perpetrators were mostly biological parents, with biological fathers at 49.3% and biological mothers at 37.5%. Stepfathers accounted for 3.7%, stepmothers 0.7%, adoptive fathers 0.3%, and adoptive mothers 0.3%.
The types of abuse were overlapping physical and emotional abuse at 44.7%, emotional abuse at 23.5%, physical abuse at 13.6%, neglect at 9.9%, and sexual abuse at 2.4%.
The institute proposed measures for establishing child abuse protection policies, including ▲strengthening the identification and early intervention of at-risk children ▲improving response procedures to minimize the burden on children ▲enhancing child abuse response infrastructure ▲and activating prevention education and campaigns.
Based on this study, Suwon City will hold a 'Child Policy Forum' on December 6 this year.
A city official emphasized, "We conducted this survey to strengthen responses to child abuse, and based on the results, we will build more thorough child protection policies to create a 'child-friendly city' where children can live safely."
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