Multicultural children abandoned due to the breakup of their families are becoming a new social issue.According to the Seoul Child Welfare Center, there are currently 10 multicultural children in their custody. The number had jumped from two in 2008 to seven in 2009.
In addition, some 10 multicultural children have been admitted to temporary child shelters in Uijeongbu and Anyang, Gyeonggi Province.
Most children in these childcare facilities are from immigrant mothers, from countries such as China, Vietnam and the Philippines, married to Korean fathers. Some multicultural families separate due to problems such as domestic violence.
These children of mixed blood face difficulty in finding adoptive homes due to social prejudices.
“Korean orphans themselves, are not easily adopted and it is almost impossible for multicultural children to find new homes,” a center official said. “Recently, a family talked about the possibility of adopting a multicultural child, but it fell through. No multicultural child has been adopted in Korea so far.”
According to Statistics Korea, 11 percent of marriages were interracial in 2008 and there are 128,000 married immigrants in Korea.
“The statistics show the inflow of foreigners is changing the demographics of Korea and we need to prepare for this change,” the official said.
Seoul City is also pushing for measures to protect immigrants who come to Korea to marry and their children.
The city government is building a center in Geumcheon District in southwestern Seoul, to assist married immigrants who suffer from domestic violence. “We organized a task force to research possible measures for supporting multicultural families, especially their disorganisation,” Cho Eun-hee, the assistant mayor of Women and Family Affairs, said.
“We hope to help married immigrants and their children settle in Korea with less difficulty.”
Link: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/04/117_63998.html
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