Progression of the Child Protection System and the Way Forward Debate

Progression of the Child Protection System and the Way Forward Debate On November 27, at 10 a.m., in the small conference room of the National Assembly Library, the NCRC held a discussion on the progress of the child protection system and the direction of development, co-hosted by Representative Jae-Hyung Choi of the People's Powerandthe Ministry of Health and Welfare.Hwa-Jong Jang, Head of the Child Protection Division at the NCRC, analyzed the child protection service delivery system that has changed due to the reorganization of the public-centered child protection system and the policy achievements that have been made, and presented future tasks to strengthen support for protected children. The general discussion was then chaired by Professor Bong-Ju Lee of the Department of Social Work at Seoul National University, who discussed in-depth the achievements of the child protection service policy and the direction of future development. Jae-Hyung Choi, a member of the National Assembly, said "I think the most important thing for the policy direction of the child protection system is to seriously consider what the 'best interest of the child' is." NCRC's director Ick-Joong Chung said "It was a meaningful time to look back at the public-centered child protection system, which is now in its third year of operation, to review the performance of the systems and policies implemented so far, and to prepare detailed plans to stabilize the child protection system in the future."

2023 Universal Children's Day Celebration

2023 Universal Children's Day CelebrationThe Ministry of Health and Welfare and the NCRC co-hosted and organized the Universal Children's Day Ceremony 「Children, Become Hope」 on November 20th at 2:00 p.m., at the Korea House Folk Theater(Jung-gu, Seoul). To commemorate Universal Children's Day, NCRC honored companies that have contributed to the spread of a culture of respect for children and children who have actively participated in their fundamental rights. The ceremony began with a performance by the Woo-ri Multicultural Children's Choir, follwed by the awarding of the NCRC Award to companies practicing child rights management and model children. In the second part, the 4th Child Rights Forum was held under the theme of "Ensuring children's participation in building an evolutionary society". Professor Emeritus Jong-ryul Heo(Seoul National University of Education) gave a lecture on 'Principles, Methods, and Challenges of Ensuring Children's Participation', emphasizing the importance of ensuring children's participation rights and the enactment of the Children's Basic Law for this purpose. In the discussion that followed, children from organizations such as Good Neighbors, Save the Children, UNICEF, and World Vision presented examples of their various participatory activities. Ick-Jung Chung, NCRC's director, said "In order for children to become hope, a culture of respect for children must spread.To achieve this, all of our society, including the government, must work together

17th Child Abuse Prevention Day Ceremony

17th Child Abuse Prevention Day CeremonyThe Ministry of Health and Welfare and the NCRC held the "17th Child Abuse Prevention Day Ceremony" on November 17 at 2 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of Seoul Garden Hotel, under the theme of "Growing Together, 365 Days of Positive Parenting" to celebrate Child Abuse Prevention Day. The theme of the event was to promote a culture of "positive parenting," a parenting method based on interaction, understanding, and trust between parents and children that respects children as independent individuals to prevent child abuse. The ceremony was attended by Vice Minister Gi-il Lee of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Director Ik-jung Chung of the NCRC, President Yang-hee Lee of the International Child Rights Center, and other guests and award recipients. 124 Minister of Health and Welfare Commendations were awarded to institutions and organizations for their efforts to prevent child abuse and restore victims. The winners include child abuse officials, counselors from specialized child protection agencies, police officers, private organizations, and outstanding local governments. "To protect each and every precious child and help them grow into a healthy person, positive parenting at home is paramount," said Vice Minister of Health and Welfare Gi-il Lee, adding that the government will do its best to create a society where children are safe from abuse. Recalling the meaning of 'positive parenting,' Ik-joong Chung, director of the NCRC, said, "We call for the practice of '365 days of positive parenting' where children, parents, and society grow together so that children's growth and the culture of positive parenting can be stably established in our society.

Cooperation to Spread Positive Parenting Awareness

Cooperation to Spread Positive Parenting AwarenessOn November 9th, NCRC signed a MOU with 'kidsnote'(CEO Jang-Wook Choi) to spread awareness of children's rights,including positive parenting.Through this MOU, they will cooperate in various fields such as promoting positive parenting and training for child abuse reporters,sponsoring items such as school supplies for children, spreading awareness of child disappearance prevention,and promoting child welfare.In honor of Child Abuse Prevention Week, 'kidsnote' will be holding a campaign to spread the culture of positive parentingfrom November 15 to promote the 129 Principles of Positive Parenting and collect signatures from parents.To spread positive parenting,the NCRC will hold a ceremony to commemorate Child Abuse Prevention Day on November 17,a positive child abuse preventionevent, and release a promotional video for child abuse prevention.Jang-Wook Choi said the company will do its best to ensurethat many children grow up in a safe and healthy environment. Ick-Joong Chung, NCRC's director, said thatthrough this MOU,NCRC and 'kidsnote' will work together to create synergistic effects in spreading positive parenting and preventingchild abuse.

Teaching Authority Protection Meeting

NCRC held a meeting with child welfare academics, experts, and teachers at BizHub Seoul Center, on October 5th.The meeting was organized to share the positions of child welfare academics, experts, and teachers' organizations on the revision of the Child Welfare Act, as well as cooperation plans for restoring teaching rights and strengthening protection, and to have in-depth discussions on future improvement plans.Ick-Joong Chung, NCRC's director, said it was very meaningful that child welfare academics, experts, and teachers' organizations gathered together at the conference to discuss the protection of teaching rights. "We will continue our efforts to harmonize teaching authority in the process of responding to child abuse based on the diverse opinions expressed at this meeting.“

2023 Best Practices of Active Administration Contest Awarded

2023 Best Practices of Active Administration Contest AwardedNCRC won two 'participation prize' for its policy cases of '24-hour Legal Response System' and 'Child Abuse Workplace Virtual Training Program' at the 「2023 Best Practices of Active Administration Contest」 hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.The case of 'Establishing a 24-hour legal response system' introduced a new legal consultation method and established a systemthatcan be utilized around the clock.This contributed to immediate response to child abuse, improved professionalism,and stabilized work.The 'Child Abuse Workplace Virtual Training Program' case was designed as a hands-on training program for child abuse officials by developing practical contents from a first-person perspective using 360˚ VR videos in an environment similar to the actual child abuse site.NCRC's dicrector Ick-Joong Chung said "This award is an example of creating innovative achievements for child abuse preventionso that child welfare policies can be well reflected in the field," promising to continue to actively carry out administration based oncreativity and expertise for the benefit of the people and the public.

2023 IKAA Gathering

2023 IKAA Gathering2023 IKAA Gathering NCRC successfully held the '2023 IKAA Gathering' hosted by IKAA(International Korean Adoptee Associations)from July 10th to July 6th. IKAA was founded in 2004 to provide a forum for solidarity and exchange among Korean adoptees,and now has 14 organizations in 9 countries with about 15,000 members.The theme of this ceremony was "Rethinking ways to build, explore, and empower our community."There were discussions and lectures on adoption, and various events including a food festival, Seoul tour, and movie about adoption.There was presentations on the Adoption Information Disclosure Request System and the Unrelated Adoptee Genetic RegistrationSystem, and a Q&A session.Ick-Joong Chung, NCRC's director, said "With the recent passage of the bill, we will strive to provide more effective support to adoptees by strengthening state responsibility for the adoption process and transferring adoption records.“

2023 1st Child Policy Forum

2023 1st Child Policy ForumOn November 10th(Fri), NCRC held the 「2023 1st Child Policy Forum」 at Ferrum Hall, Ferrum Tower.The forum was the first public presentation of the findings of the 「Panel on Protected and Supported Childrenand Young Adults Preparing for Independence」.Topics were presented and a comprehensive discussion was held, chaired by Geum-ran Ko, assistant director of the NCRC.NCRC's So-young Min, director of the Center, said the panel was important because "as we enter an era of ultra-lowbirthrates, building child-centered data will ultimately contribute to child-customized policy proposals.""There is a need to provide fill-in services that meet the needs of children at the village level," said ProfessorSang-gyun Lee, Catholic University.Se-hyun Oh and Hee-sun Jang, NCRC's researchers, and professor Se-won Kim ofCatholic Kwandong University, also had diverse opinions on the panel.The NCRC said that an accurate understanding of the phenomenon is important for effective policies to work andthat they should be evidence-based, and pledged to continue to conduct evidence-based research for effective policy formulation."Through this forum, we will strive to establish evidence-based children's policies as a cornerstone for buildingchild-centered data," said Ik-Joong Chung, director of NCRC, noting that the forum was the first to introduce panels onprotected and supported children and young adults preparing for independence

2023 Social Welfare Joint Academic Conference

2023 Social Welfare Joint Academic ConferenceOn October 20th, NCRC held "2023 Social Welfare Joint Academic Conference", hosted by the Korean Academy of Social Welfare and Sungkyunkwan University's Social Welfare Research Institute.At the conference, an industry-academic session was held to discuss the government's child policy diagnosis and child policy issues for the best interests of children under the theme of 'Reconsidering Integrated Child Protection Services from a Child Rights Perspective'.NCRC's industry-academic collaboration session was presented by So-Young Min, director of the Research Center for Child Policy, and June-Ae Lee and Sia Kim, associate researcher.The report analyzed the recommendations of the 5th and 6th Conventions on the Rights of the Child and Korea's children's policies and recommended implementation tasks.Through the analysis of the results of the Child Policy Impact Assessment, we examined the status of child-centered policy formulation and implementation and proposed measures for the best interests of children.Professor Se-Won Lee of Gangneung Wonju University and Professor Chang-Yong Choi of Gachon University provided comments to enrich the discussion. NCRC's director Ick-Joong Chung said he expects that the discussions held at the industry-academia session will serve as a basis for creating policies that realize the best interests of children.

2023 3rd Child Rights Forum

2023 3rd Child Rights ForumThe Ministry of Health and Welfare and the NCRC co-hosted the 3rd Child Rights Forum "Child Rights and Corporate Management Principles" on October 31 at 2:00 p.m., at the Korea Press Center Press Room (Jung-gu, Seoul), in collaboration with Save the Children, UNICEF Korea Committee, and the United Nations Global Compact Korea Association.The Forum is designed to explore and provide direction on the issue of how children's rights are under-recognized in corporate governance, despite the fact that all children are affected by corporate activities in some way.Presentations were given by the heads of corporate affairs departments at international organizations, including Davinia Ovett Bondi, head of Child Rights and Business Global Hub and Save the Children, and Erik Nyman, senior advisor of Business Engagement and Child Rights and UNICEF. Lectures and discussions on the topic by child representatives, experts, and corporate representatives also followed.Hyun Ryu, UNICEF Korea Committee, and Mi-jeong Kang, Save the Children, argued that children's rights should be considered more actively in corporate management based on the ESG reports of domestic companies and the results of the survey on the perception of children and adolescents' rights by companies.NCRC's director Ick-Joong Jung said "It will be society's task and obligation to create a foothold for children to grow along with the flow of corporate management," emphasizing that companies, governments, and private organizations should cooperate through this forum.