12-year-old Jeongwoo reluctant to attend middle school... Sighs at the high support ordinance threshold [Youth trapped in caregiving]

①Children are the most vulnerable... Support not available for younger ones
Youth centers support from age 13, local governments from age 9
Actual conditions of younger care youth remain untracked

Editor's NoteThree years ago, the political slogans that rushed to promise support laws during the so-called 'caregiver murder' case, where a 22-year-old young man was driven to poverty and caregiving labor and caused his father's death, ended up being empty words. Instead, local governments stepped in to name young people caring for elderly or sick family members as 'family care youth' and promised caregiving support policies, but children who did not meet the support age criteria fell into blind spots. Hoping that no more children will be left without care due to caregiving burdens, this [Youth Trapped in Caregiving] series diagnoses the caregiving labor of youth and contemplates the way forward.

"What will happen when I go to middle school next year?"

The biggest worry for 12-year-old Jeong-woo is taking care of his 4-year-younger brother Shin-woo and his hearing-impaired father. After school at 2:40 p.m., it is Jeong-woo's important daily task to look after the two. Since he will come home later once he becomes a middle school student, Jeong-woo seemed genuinely worried about leaving just his father and brother alone at home until then. It is also Jeong-woo's responsibility to prepare meals for the two, replacing his mother who returns home after 8 p.m. Jeong-woo skillfully turned on the gas stove and boiled water as if it were a familiar task. The frequent menu is ramen and eggs, which they eat along with side dishes his mother prepared earlier. A black plastic bag on the kitchen floor was filled with various kinds of ramen.

Although he takes care of the family meals like homework, Jeong-woo himself does not eat breakfast. He feels sorry to make his mother, who works 12 hours a day, six days a week, prepare breakfast as well. His mother, Ms. Thuong (51), a Vietnamese immigrant, works all day without sitting down even once, grilling tofu, boiling hot pot, and washing dishes at Restaurant ㄱ, famous for handmade tofu. Originally, she worked every day without a day off, but after injuring her leg in a traffic accident a few years ago, the owner kindly allowed her to rest every Wednesday. The monthly income consists only of about 2 million won earned this way and the 670,000 won living allowance received by her husband, Jeong-hwan (65). Jeong-woo said he felt sorry for his mother. "Mom is always busy every morning. So I just don't eat breakfast."

On the afternoon of the 18th, Jungwoo prepared dinner for his family. He filled the pot with water and boiled it as if it were a familiar routine. Photo by Hyunju Park phj0325@

Last year, the kitchen of Jung Woo's house. The old wallpaper was peeling off in places, and there was also mold. Recently, it was remodeled with support from an organization. Photo by Jeong Hee-seon, social worker

Entering Jeong-woo's house, the structure was so narrow that it was visible at a glance. The master bedroom used by the couple was filled with the children's clothes and household items, leaving no space to step except for the bedding. Still, it was much better than before when the wallpaper was peeling off here and there and the heating did not work properly. This was thanks to remodeling completed two months ago with support from an organization. "Now, three briquettes make the house too hot to sleep. So these days, we only use two." Jeong-hwan proudly showed his fingers. Warmth spread on the living room floor where the couple sat closely together for the interview. The neat white wall with foam blocks attached was the couple's work after staying up for three nights straight.

Still, the word that came out most from Jeong-woo was "It's okay." Experts in caregiving and child welfare workers explain that "It's okay" and "It's not hard" are the most common phrases used by young 'young carers' like Jeong-woo. Families where children of an age to be protected take on caregiving responsibilities often have multiple vulnerabilities such as housing and income, but the children themselves do not objectively recognize this.

"Young carers who have already recognized reality are full of anger. As they grow, they realize that the caregiving burden they bear is not normal. However, younger young carers tend to downplay their situation. Objectively, they are in very difficult circumstances and have very high depression scores. Because they do not know what situation they are in or how to cope, they find it difficult to access welfare resources." (Seon-yu Ham, Associate Research Fellow, Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs)

A bag filled with various types of ramen is placed on the kitchen floor of Jungwoo's house. Photo by Hyunju Park

Jungwoo is a student who never misses being first or second in school. Jungwoo is working on a math test error notebook. Photo by Park Hyun-joo

"Excluded for being too young"...Children pushed into blind spots without surveys

A Young Carer refers to a young person who must care for family or friends despite being at an age when they should be receiving care from their parents. The concept was first introduced in the UK in the 1990s and became known in Korea three years ago following the caregiver murder case. Since 2022, the government has defined young carers as 'family care youth' and promised support, but there is no unified definition of carers due to the absence of related legislation. Each local government classifies family care children, adolescents, and youth by age through support ordinances.

Local governments have ordinances regarding support for care youth. The Youth Future Center, a dedicated institution for care youth under the Ministry of Health and Welfare, defines care youth as those aged 13 to 34 who are responsible for family care, while local governments apply broader age ranges. However, because ordinances were created independently, the age definitions for care youth are not unified. Based on age criteria from the Juvenile Act (9?24 years) and Youth Act (19?34 years), Seoul, Incheon, and Jeonnam define care youth as those aged 9 to 34. Some regions like Busan and Ulsan set a broader range up to 39 years.

In Gangwon Province, where Jeong-woo lives, only those aged 14 to 39 who care for family or are responsible for livelihood are recognized as care youth eligible for support. Seoul and Gwangju consider those aged 9 and above as eligible, but younger children are still excluded from support lists. In single-parent or grandparent-headed households, care children often bear both livelihood and caregiving responsibilities but are excluded from support due to age. Among 900 family care youth identified in Seoul's April 2023 survey, 36% (326 people) were from single-parent or grandparent-headed families.

Japan, with similar circumstances to Korea, recently recognized that many start family caregiving at very young ages under 9 and has begun conducting surveys to prepare support policies. According to a 2021 survey by the Japan Carer Alliance targeting sixth-grade elementary students, nearly half reported starting family care before age 9 (17.3% at 6 or younger, 30.9% at 7?9). About 40% reported starting care at ages 10?12.

In Korea, younger children among care youth are not included in support ordinances and thus are not even surveyed. The government estimated in the 'Korea Social Trends 2024' report released on the 19th that 153,044 young people aged 13 to 34, or 1.3% of that population, care for family members. Adding children under 13 would increase the number of care youth, but the government has not conducted separate surveys and cannot even estimate the number of children omitted from support.

Jung Hee-sun, a social worker at the Green Umbrella Children's Foundation Gangwon Regional Headquarters, said, "We conduct our own surveys on care youth, but since this involves sensitive personal information, it is impossible to arbitrarily provide this data to the public." He explained, "Ultimately, a nationwide full survey of omitted children is necessary, but without data for understanding the situation, proper support is impossible."

Virtual image created using ChatGPT.

Min-sook Heo, a researcher at the National Assembly Legislative Research Office, emphasized the need to expand support policies to include preschool children. This is because young people playing caregiving roles in grandparent-headed families are likely to be elementary school age or younger. He said, "Many children grow up entrusted to grandparents after losing contact with parents at a young age, and when the grandparents age, the children start caregiving from as young as 4 or 5 years old." He added, "These children have no experience growing up in typical families, so they lack awareness of the problem and cannot ask for help." Excluding young care youth who could become socially vulnerable from support policies is an incomplete policy resulting from insufficient surveys.

Researcher Heo added, "The goal of care child support policies is to help them grow up in environments similar to their peers and become independent. If children are providing excessive care to the extent of dropping out of school or developing negative emotions, the state must share that responsibility."

*The caregivers and their families appearing in this article use pseudonyms to protect their identities.