TY - JOUR
T1 - Family Policy in South Korea
T2 - Development, Current Status, and Challenges
AU - Chin, Meejung
AU - Lee, Jaerim
AU - Lee, Soyoung
AU - Son, Seohee
AU - Sung, Miai
PY - 2012/2
Y1 - 2012/2
N2 - We provide a comprehensive review of family policy in South Korea (Korea hereafter) for international readers. Alarmed by recent social and demographic changes, the Korean government has started to establish explicit family policies from the mid 2000s. These policies have signified a symbolic attention shift to family matters in the history of social policy in Korea. In this paper, we focus on three areas of family policy: (a) work-family policies, (b) a healthy family policy, and (c) a policy for multi-cultural families. Work-family policies aim to help working families with young children balance work responsibilities and family caregiving through multiple leave options and child care support. The Framework Act on Healthy Families, the first explicit family policy in Korea, requires local governments to provide family services through Healthy Family Support Centers. The Multi-Cultural Family Support Act also established a formal support system for multi-cultural families with immigrant spouses, a population group that has recently increased in Korea. We further discuss the domestic and comparative contexts of Korean family policy and provide suggestions for the remaining challenges.
AB - We provide a comprehensive review of family policy in South Korea (Korea hereafter) for international readers. Alarmed by recent social and demographic changes, the Korean government has started to establish explicit family policies from the mid 2000s. These policies have signified a symbolic attention shift to family matters in the history of social policy in Korea. In this paper, we focus on three areas of family policy: (a) work-family policies, (b) a healthy family policy, and (c) a policy for multi-cultural families. Work-family policies aim to help working families with young children balance work responsibilities and family caregiving through multiple leave options and child care support. The Framework Act on Healthy Families, the first explicit family policy in Korea, requires local governments to provide family services through Healthy Family Support Centers. The Multi-Cultural Family Support Act also established a formal support system for multi-cultural families with immigrant spouses, a population group that has recently increased in Korea. We further discuss the domestic and comparative contexts of Korean family policy and provide suggestions for the remaining challenges.
KW - Child care policy
KW - Framework Act on Healthy Families of Korea
KW - Korean family policy
KW - Multi-cultural family support policy
KW - Work-family policy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85028121494&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10826-011-9480-1
DO - 10.1007/s10826-011-9480-1
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85028121494
SN - 1062-1024
VL - 21
SP - 53
EP - 64
JO - Journal of Child and Family Studies
JF - Journal of Child and Family Studies
IS - 1
ER -