Gov't to investigate child abuse by state-offered babysitters

Babysitter from the goverment's childcare center forces baby to eat food in this surveilance camera footage uploaded by the parents online. / Yonhap

By Kim Jae-heun

The government will conduct a wide-ranging investigation into state babysitting services, following a recent child abuse case involving one of the sitters in Seoul, the Minister of Gender Equality and Family said, Wednesday.

Minister Jin Sun-mee made an official apology over the allegation before a meeting with officials concerned at the Health Family Support Center in Geumcheon-gu, Seoul.

“I understand how serious the recent child abuse case is. I want to express my apologies and consolation to not only the mother who must have been shocked by the incident, but also to the whole family,” she said.

“I am sure many parents might have found themselves in the victim's mother's shoes, especially those who have a babysitter taking care of their own babies. We will conduct a survey on every household using our service to check if there are any unknown similar cases and to take action,” Jin added.

The government service is aimed at providing babysitters at an affordable price, and the government covers part of the service fees for low-income families.

The ministry will send messages to all households using the babysitting service and open a pop-up window to receive reports of suspected child abuse on its official childcare service website at idolbom.go.kr, starting next Monday.

When parents report a suspicion of child abuse, the ministry will send officials to their homes for an in-depth survey and deal with the case in cooperation with child protection organizations.

The ministry also promised to take preventive measures on possible crimes in the future.

Babysitters hired by the government will receive preventive education on child abuse starting this month, and the ministry will strengthen the qualifications of the sitters. It will also open a mobile application within this year to collect parents' evaluations on the government's babysitting service.

“To make sure such a crime does not happen again and for parents to trust the government's babysitting service, we will form a taskforce including experts in the field to come up with detailed preventive measures within this month,” a ministry official said.

Officers at the Geumcheon Police Station are also investigating the child abuse case following the parents' report.

The babysitter surnamed Kim, in her late 50s, allegedly slapped a 14-month-old baby for not eating food and pulled his hair. The parents hired Kim, who had six years of experience as a babysitter, through the ministry's babysitting service in December.

“A babysitter from the government's service abused our 14-month-old baby for the last three months. She slapped his face and jammed food in his mouth. She also assaulted our baby by pulling his hair and kicking him while cursing at him,” the parents said in an online petition a Cheong Wa Dae's website.

They also uploaded footage of about six minutes from a surveillance camera they installed in the house which showed the babysitter's abuse.

The police are investigating Kim based on the footage and plan to summon her for questioning soon.

The petition, calling for stern punishment for Kim and improvement in the babysitting service, received over 200,000 people's signatures, the number required to receive an answer from the presidential office.