Samsung Welfare Foundation and the Korea Institute of Child Care & Education (KICCE) unveiled an integrated platform, "Saessak and Danbi," that checks the developmental status of infants and toddlers and guides users to related information and professional institutions.
Samsung Welfare Foundation will operate Saessak and Danbi, built jointly with the Korea Institute of Child Care & Education (KICCE), starting on the 3rd. It provides ▲ infant and toddler development check ▲ stage-by-stage development information ▲ customized play for developmental support ▲ information on professional institutions by residential area, allowing parents and teachers to check a child's developmental level.
The platform includes the infant and toddler development check tool "K-SIED," developed by the Korea Institute of Child Care & Education (KICCE). Based on the results, it directs users to play content that can be used at home and in child care centers and kindergartens, and it also provides connections to information on professional institutions by region that can conduct in-depth diagnoses and treatment.
The two institutions developed the platform over about two years from 2024 to support parents and teachers who have difficulty finding needed information and support institutions after a developmental assessment. They formed a consultative body of 18 experts from public institutions, the medical community, and child-related associations and academic societies, and also reflected feedback from a parent and teacher monitoring group.
According to a research report published in 2025 by the Korea Institute of Child Care & Education (KICCE), the share of children who received a "follow-up test recommended" result on the Korea Developmental Screening Test for Infants and Children (K-DST) administered by the National Health Insurance Service rose to 12.3% in 2023 from 2.1% in 2012. The share receiving a "comprehensive evaluation recommended" result, indicating the need for an in-depth exam, also increased to 3.3% from 0.9% over the same period.
Samsung Welfare Foundation plans to improve the platform with the parent and teacher monitoring group and expand linkages with public institutions that run developmental support programs for infants and toddlers. Ryu Moon-hyung, executive vice president overseeing Samsung Foundation, said, "Saessak and Danbi is a platform built to support parents and teachers so that not only children at risk of disabilities but all children can grow up healthy from infancy," adding, "We will consolidate developmental support programs in cooperation with the education, child care, medical, and welfare fields."
Hwang Ok-kyung, head of the Korea Institute of Child Care & Education (KICCE), said, "We implemented the research outcomes of public institutions into a platform that parents and teachers can actually use," and added, "We expect it will help parents' caregiving and teachers' developmental support for infants and toddlers based on professional information and data."