Seocho-gu Expands 'Grandchild Caregivers' to 450 This Year

Monthly Support of 300,000 Won for Grandchild Care Activities Under 24 Months

Seocho-gu, Seoul, started the nation's first "Seocho Grandchild Caregiver" program in 2011. Provided by Seocho-gu.

Seocho-gu, Seoul (District Mayor Jeon Seong-su) plans to significantly increase the number of participants in the ‘Seocho Grandchild Caregivers’ program, which educates and supports grandparents involved in raising their grandchildren. The district aims to raise the number of participants from 380 last year to over 450 this year.

The ‘Seocho Grandchild Caregivers’ program was first launched by Seocho-gu in 2011, making it the first of its kind nationwide. Grandparents who care for grandchildren under 24 months of age for more than 40 hours per month receive a monthly activity allowance of 300,000 KRW for a minimum of 6 months and up to 12 months. To qualify, the caregiving grandparents must reside in Seocho-gu, and at least one of the child’s parents must have lived in Seocho-gu for more than one year.

Starting in May this year, Seocho-gu will expand the training sessions from 30 participants per session to 120 participants. Grandchild caregivers must complete the training program before beginning their activities to receive the district’s allowance. This expansion will reduce the waiting period from a maximum of 6 months to less than 3 months.

The program consists of 8 mandatory subjects and 4 elective subjects. The mandatory subjects include ▲Understanding Infant Development ▲Child Hygiene Management ▲Child Medication Management ▲Infant Music and Hand Play ▲Weaning Food and Eating Habit Guidance ▲Baby Massage ▲First Aid and Safety Management ▲Infant and Toddler Rights. The elective subjects are ▲Newborn Care ▲Storytelling ▲Infant and Toddler Sex Education ▲Smartphone Dependency Prevention Education.

To ensure professional and systematic caregiving, participants must complete at least 90% of the total 26 hours of training. Among the 380 grandparents who completed the training last year, 51 (13.4%) were grandfathers.

Jeon Seong-su, Mayor of Seocho-gu, stated, “We will further activate the Grandchild Caregivers support program to actively support grandparents who are deeply involved in caring for their grandchildren, and strive to create a happy Seocho where three generations?grandparents, parents, and children?live together harmoniously.”