Expansion of Developmental Rehabilitation Support for 10,000 Children with Disabilities... Monthly Voucher Increased by 30,000 Won

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on the 12th that it will expand the scale of support for developmental rehabilitation services (vouchers) and care services for children with severe disabilities to alleviate the burden on families raising children with disabilities.

Developmental rehabilitation services provide vouchers that allow children under 18 years old with disabilities to receive rehabilitation therapy in areas such as language, art/music, behavior/play/psychology, and sensory/motor skills to support behavioral development. Services are also provided for unregistered infants and toddlers under 6 years old who are expected to have disabilities.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare will first strengthen early intervention support for disabilities and expand the number of service recipients from 69,000 to 79,000 starting this month, reflecting the increasing demand from unregistered infants and toddlers with disabilities. To substantially reduce household burdens due to rehabilitation therapy costs, the voucher support amount has been increased by 30,000 KRW from 220,000 KRW to 250,000 KRW per month.

The care service for children with severe disabilities dispatches caregivers to the homes of children under 18 years old with severe disabilities to provide direct care. Last year, the annual care hours were 840 hours, but to reduce the care burden, the service was temporarily expanded to 960 hours within the budget from July last year, and this year, 960 hours of annual care time will continue to be supported for 8,000 children with severe disabilities.

Yeom Min-seop, Director of Disability Policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said, "Developmental rehabilitation services and care services for children with severe disabilities are core services that provide early intervention for disabilities and alleviate the economic and social care burdens on families of children with disabilities. We will continue to expand rehabilitation and care support for children with disabilities and do our best to improve the quality of services."