ScholarWorks@숙명여자대학교

초록

This study was motivated by the recognition that the persistent recurrence of child maltreatment cannot be reduced to individual or familial problems but should be understood within a broader structural context. To examine this issue, fourteen cases of repeated maltreatment by the same perpetrator were analyzed. The data were drawn from administrative documents—intake reports, assessment records, and case closure reports—registered in the Korea National Child Abuse Information System in 2022, focusing on cases identified as child maltreatment three or more times within the same year. Qualitative content analysis was conducted to identify meaningful patterns and structural issues by examining the sequence of events, characteristics of perpetrators, intervention processes, and types of failure. The findings indicated that recurrence often occurred within a short period following the initial intervention, and that perpetrators’ risk factors were complex and chronic, including mental health problems, alcohol dependency, and parenting stress. Failures in intervention were closely associated with structural factors within the child protection system, such as inadequate initial response, lack of interagency collaboration, limitations of assessment tools, insufficient mechanisms for responding to involuntary perpetrators, and the absence of children’s participation. These results reveal recurring patterns of intervention failure and structural problems within the protection system that are difficult to capture through quantitative research. The study critically examines the limitations of existing recurrence indicators and suggests directions for policy and practice, including the development of child-centered prevention metrics, reinforcement of intensive early intervention, and the establishment of more effective response systems for involuntary perpetrators.

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