Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, said on the 22nd it will pilot an "child abuse prevention education" program to detect and prevent child abuse in the home early.
The program was prepared to establish proper parenting values for child caregivers and to raise the sensitivity of mandated reporters to child abuse. Starting on the 24th, it will run through July 2 and 3 with visits to four municipal daycare centers in the area. The education targets are parents of children at those centers and childcare teachers.
The education will be tailored. For parents, it will focus on improving awareness of positive parenting, including: ▲ understanding the difference between discipline and abuse ▲ improving awareness of the ban on corporal punishment following the abolition of "disciplinary rights" under the Civil Act ▲ the Ministry of Health and Welfare's "Positive Parenting 129 Principles" ▲ relieving parenting stress and linking with local parenting support services.
Mandated reporters of child abuse, such as childcare teachers, can receive practice-focused education to promote early detection and reporting, including: ▲ types of child abuse and key signs ▲ actual cases of child abuse detection by job category and local government responses ▲ the role of mandated reporters and systems to protect reporters ▲ legal liability for failing to report.
A Yongin official said, "As cases of child abuse in the home have continued to occur recently and the risk of concealment has grown, we planned proactive prevention education that goes directly to the field," and added, "based on feedback from the pilot education, we will conduct a demand survey in the second half of this year and visit more child caregivers and institutions next year."