'Child Group Home Support Center' Opens in Ansan on the 21st

Gyeonggi Provincial Government

On the 21st, Gyeonggi Province opened the 'Child Group Home Support Center' in Danwon-gu, Ansan City to create a stable living environment and provide professional protection for children who are not under parental care.

Child group homes are child welfare facilities that provide a home-like environment for children who do not have parents or do not receive adequate protection from their parents. In the province, about 700 children live in 156 group homes.

Group homes are small-scale facilities where 3 to 4 staff members care for an average of 5 children 24 hours a day. Since a small number of staff perform various tasks such as protection, care, education, and administration, the need for support to improve operational quality has been continuously raised.

The Child Group Home Support Center plans to offer children various educational, travel, and experiential events, and provide staff with professional training along with healing programs.

Additionally, it will serve as an integrated support system by conducting group home evaluations, building cooperative systems, and linking external resources.

Gyeonggi Province is investing 360 million KRW from the provincial budget this year, and the operation of the Group Home Support Center will be managed by the Korea Child and Youth Group Home Association, a non-profit organization.

The establishment of this Child Group Home Support Center is a follow-up measure to a promise made by Governor Kim Dong-yeon to the Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly members during a provincial government inquiry in March.

At that time, when asked about the intention to establish a Child Group Home Support Center, Governor Kim Dong-yeon responded, "That was a touching question. We will establish the 'Gyeonggi Province Child Group Home Support Center' by next year."

Yu So-jeong, Director of Child Care at Gyeonggi Province, said, "Through the establishment of the Child Group Home Support Center, we hope that children and staff in group homes can live happily in a better environment," and added, "We will continue to strive to improve child welfare."