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ED Provide better childcare

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  • Published Sep 20, 2020 4:31 pm KST
  • Updated Sep 20, 2020 5:49 pm KST

Attend to those in blind spots during COVID-19

Two boys, one 10 and his younger brother, eight, suffered severe burns in a fire that started while they were cooking instant noodles for lunch. Their mother was not at home, having left the night before. The two have been in critical condition for about a week now. Police accounts show that neighbors had alerted related childcare authorities of possible negligence and abuse on three occasions since 2018, and that the mother was suffering from depression after a divorce.

The situation surrounding the boys and their mother raises questions as to whether more forceful pre-emptive measures are required to address blind spots that could leave some children in danger, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. The supervision that schools and welfare workers can provide has been compromised due to social distancing.

In the case of the brothers in Incheon, welfare workers filed a request in May for a protective order with a family court after seeing no progress in their living conditions over the past two years. The order is a forceful administrative measure that could separate the children from their mother and place them under the guardianship of a care facility. The court, taking into consideration that the mother demonstrated a willingness to receive treatment, ruled that the boys stay with the mother who was recommended to receive counseling. She did not do this due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Living with the pandemic, we are sorely aware it is the most vulnerable that are at greater risk. The welfare authorities estimate that 40 percent of children may exist in this so-called “blind spot” of negligence since the outbreak of COVID-19. The government has pledged to expand extra-school care programs or provide assistance with childcare fees but that social safety net may not even be known to families struggling with various problems. The central and local governments and related agencies should jointly work to craft fine-tuned measures to help those children who are living without proper parental care.