친족위탁에 대한 재평가와 친족위탁양육자 지원을 위한 후견제도의 활용 ― 가정위탁보호 지원법(안) 발의를 계기로 ―

Abstract

While the number of children in care has been continually increasing, the pool of potential adoptive parents is not changing. Moreover, along with the increasing concerns for placing children to the institutional care, new bill has been proposed in the effort of facilitation of foster care system in Korea. The bill specifies the conditions to start and end foster care services and the legal status of foster parents, further, describes ways to support and monitor foster care services. We critically review the bill, and suggest revisions of the bill. Firstly, there should be a special caution in treating foster care as a way of achieving permanency. Rather, to contribute to the wellbeing of children in care, we suggest to use kinship care as guardianship if kinship caregivers have an ability and willingness to take care of foster children in appropriate caring environments. We can use Korean laws, Child Welfare Law and Civil Law that already exist, regulating guardianship, by their provisions related to appointing a guardian after limiting or terminating parental rights if needed. Secondly, we propose the guardianship for foster children to be subsidized by government and proper level of governmental monitoring too to facilitate the guardianship by kinship caregivers and to keep it as a stable placement. It seems premature to conclude whether kinship foster care is a better option than general foster care, since the study results are mixed when it comes to comparing children’s developmental outcomes. However, considering limited pool for the placement of children in care and the lack of children’s permanency achievement in Korea, we recommend the facilitation of a guardianship for kinship foster children. Subsidized guardianship in the United States can be a good example of permanency achievement for Korean kinship foster care children. This policy is expected to improve the quality and accountability of child welfare services for Korean foster children.