Having a baby after a marriage is said to be a gift from heaven. Life is precious, and giving birth to a child who resembles the loving parents is priceless. Sadly, it has been common for children to be subjected to terrible violence. The ‘Jeong-in incident’ where parents who adopted 16-month-old Jeong-in abused the child to death, angered the whole population. There was also an incident in Iksan, Jeollabuk-do, where a two-week-old baby was beaten to death. As COVID-19 compelled many people to stay home, the risk of child abuse increased, but the reporting of it decreased. The National Police Agency said the incidence of child abuse in the home in 2020 was 81.9%, an increase of 8.5%p from 2019 (73.4%). Most people do not pay attention to child abuse stories because their lives are already difficult due to COVID-19. Here, we investigated child abuse and its severity.
Child abuse refers to 'adults, including protectors, committing physical, mental, sexual violence or harsh behaviors that may harm the child's health or welfare or impair normal development, and child's protectors abandon or neglect a child.' It is Article 3, No. 7 of the Child Welfare Act. Local governments should have at least one regional child protection institution in each city, province, county, or district to expedite the detection, protection, and treatment of abuse victims and be in charge of preventing abuse. The child protection institution established under the Child Welfare Act protects children from abuse, promotes children's rights and interests, and conducts child welfare programs so that children can grow up happily in a healthy family and society. In child protection institutions, professionals in various fields, such as public officials, social workers, and counselors, work hard on behalf of the children. When a child abuse is reported, the child protection institution in each region receives the report and conducts field investigations in cooperation with the police. After the investigation, they check the facts, judge the overall situation, and eventually take follow-up measures.
There are four types of child abuse: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect abuse. There are many causes for child abuse such as conflict and violence of married couple, unwanted pregnancy, and experiences of parental child abuse. For this reason, children live with traumas. The most frequent types of child abuse are emotional and physical abuses. There are still parents who believe that physical punishment is helpful for their children's discipline. That is why physical abuse is the most frequent occurrence, and when children have been abused, they remain emotionally anxious. They are victims, not only of injuries, but also of long-term disabilities. Mental harm can lead to drug addition, speechlessness or tic disorders. The aftereffects of sexual abuse include sexual trauma and genital inflammation.
In order to learn more about the seriousness of child abuse, we interviewed counselor Seo-young Kim who works at the Daejeon child protection institution. The counselor said: "There are two main problems with child abuse. First, parents' perception is not good. There are still many cases where children punishment is taken for granted. The second is the lack of manpower. Currently, each counselor is managing 70-80 family cases. With this heavy load of family cases, many abuses go unnoticed, which leads to a high possibility of relapse."
Until now, work related to child protection institution has been entrusted to non-profit organizations (NGO) such as Good Neighbors. Investigating an incident might require counselors to visit a home or intervene. But often, parents become uncooperative when they realize that the counselors are just civilians. So, in March 2020, the National Assembly passed amendments in the Child Welfare Act and the Special Law on Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes, which reorganized the child abuse response system. With this amendment, child abuse investigation and protection civilians have been in charge of for a long time are to be carried out by local government officials. So, counselor Seo-young Kim said: "Currently, Daejeon has a public official only in Daejeon Seo-gu child protection institutions, and reorganization is still in progress in four districts. We plan to publicize the changes in October this year, after which, civilian counselors, public officials, and police will work together to visit the scenes of abuse and investigate the incidents.”
Child abuse occurs more frequently in February and March when the children enter elementary school. Therefore, in order to protect even one more child, the attention and report by the people is important. Reporting child abuse is simple. Anyone who has become aware of child abuse can report it to a specialized institution for child protection or call 112. Child abuse, which is increasing every year, is a serious crime that must disappear. Furthermore, I hope that a day full of children’ smiles and happiness instead of fear and scars will brighten our dreams, hopes, and the future of children.
