국내 육아지원정책 동향 및 향후 과제

Abstract

The government has urgently backed up the establishment of the basic plan of child care support policy. However, a fundamental review to first evaluate child care support is required because there is lack of data on its impact on birth rate and female employment promotion policies. In this light, this report has identified and analyzed the goal and the basic direction of child care support policies and challenges to key policy in the last 10 years. A sample of 1,045 parents of young children and 98 related experts was used to identify the need to reform child care support system; later, the report outlines future challenges. The findings confirm that child care support in 2011 needed to reconvert its direction and goal. The highlight is that parental support and the regional child care network need to be revisited; strengthening child care in the public sector since 2006 and the reinforcement of responsibility on family and community towards child care since 2011. Child care support has focused on financially supporting child care centers, recently adding extension of child care hours. Children aged 0-5 years are entitled to child care and education support; child care leave eligibility and entitlement are for parents with children up to 8 years old and earning a maximum of 1,000,000KW payment. The flexible working hours scheme has also been introduced. However, cash schemes are still limited to child care home allowance. According to the survey, support for child care centers and child care hours have greater impact. However, it is indicated that expanding public child care sectors, safe child care and strengthening early years practitioners' professionalism are yet to be solved. Cash scheme service needs to cover preschoolers; the child care system needs to be strengthened and equal parenting responsibility is also required. The target for future child care support, therefore, needs to focus on parents' rights and those of the child. It also needs to resolve the conflict between work and family life, including that of fathers. The report suggests the following: enhancing the rights for infants' and young children's choices on child care, providing cash scheme services regardless of the use of child care centers, re-establishing centers' goals according to the age of the child and restructuring the child care support system, the governments' support for expanding public child care sectors, strengthening safe child care as a key challenge, providing child care centers according to household characteristics, and fully applying exceptional day child care services to young children, and expanding child care hours through the introduction of a three month child care leave for fathers.