Since the early 2000s, child abuse has emerged as a social problem, and accordingly, Korea has been responding to the problem of child abuse through the enactment and amendment of the Child Welfare Act and Act on special cases concerning the punishmen...
Since the early 2000s, child abuse has emerged as a social problem, and accordingly, Korea has been responding to the problem of child abuse through the enactment and amendment of the Child Welfare Act and Act on special cases concerning the punishment, etc. of child abuse crimes. As a result, it contributed to improving the perception that child abuse is a crime and raising awareness that corporal punishment in the process of discipline can be abuse. However, despite these efforts, cases of abuse such as the case of Jeong-in are being repeated due to the failure to accurately determine or respond to child abuse in the initial response process. In response, by publicizing child abuse investigation procedure from 2020, the government reformed the initial response system such that public local governments can conduct investigation, which was previously conducted by private child protection institutions. Since then, with the implementation of the immediate separation system, the initial response to child abuse was accelerated and the structure changed in a way that a response at the local level became possible. This study verified whether the current measures are faithful to the actual protection and support of victims at a point of time where two years have passed since the child abuse response system was publicized, and whether the changes in the system are helping the division of roles between investigative agencies and protection agencies and strengthening cooperation.
Looking at the current early response system for child abuse, the legal system for addressing the child abuse has a dual legal system, including Child Welfare Act, which is a welfare law, and Act on the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes, etc., which is a criminal law. Despite the different nature of welfare and the judicial system, the legal regulations overlap or contain contents, which are different from the legislative purpose without boundaries between welfare and judicial domains through the individual law revision process. The rules for the definition of child abuse in the welfare and judiciary areas are identical. The Child Welfare Act contains provisions, which
need to be addressed in the judicial system, such as immediate separation (Article 15, Paragraph 6), restrictions on employment of offenders (Article 29-3), and conduct, thereby blurring the line between the protection and judiciary.
Although the duty to report child abuse is being strengthened, there are cases in which reported information is transferred or leaked since local government emergency phone lines and child protection agencies’ counseling lines are operated in parallel in addition to 112. The guidelines were established such that the responsible public servants of local governments investigate abused children and police officers investigate perpetrators when they are dispatched to the scene. However, due to the lack of dedicated human resources for local governments, they are in fact not accompanied to the scene. As many human resources are put into the on-site investigation, the victim repeatedly reports the damage to the workers at each stage, and thus, there is a possibility of exposure to secondary damage.
Most of the measures taken at the scene focus on measures to separate the victim from the home, and the criteria for judging separation are not accurate for the immediate separation system. There is a potential to infringe on the freedom of movement, residence, etc. of the abused child. Looking at the Child Abuse Field Response Manual, guidelines for joint work between the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the police have been prepared, but they are operated according to their respective manuals, and there are cases where each manual conflicts or overlaps in its role, resulting in a difficulty in effective role division and connection.
In foreign countries, the commonality is that they are prioritizing the safety and protection of victims based on the will of the child in terms of the initial response to child abuse, and building an integrated support system through multi-institution cooperation.
The United States (U.S.) addressed the leak phenomenon by occupation type by classifying the mandatory reporter as ‘one working in a specific institution’ rather than classify by occupational category. Persons engaged in criminal justice, such as the police and prosecutors, are also included in the mandatory reporter. In the U.S., the institution receiving reports prioritizes
whether the report meets the legal standards for child abuse, and responds by distinguishing whether it is a report requiring immediate response. It prioritizes the health and safety of children, giving priority to treatment of abuse trauma rather than investigation of abuse. The U.S. is strengthening its integrated support system based on community organizations based on the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. In the U.S., separation measure is only possible if there is a court order or legal basis in terms of separation of children who are victims of child abuse.
The United Kingdom (UK) addresses child abuse from a child welfare perspective, and established a multi-institutional cooperative system to solve children's problems together. The UK established a channel to review serious child protection cases in order to improve the child abuse system, and is checking problems in response and deficiencies in proactive support. The UK permits segregation of children on a limited basis “only when there is insufficient time to issue an emergency protective order or if the child’s immediate safety is necessary.”
Japan is characterized by a unified response system for child abuse in the local community centered on public child counseling centers. Japan also has two legal systems including the Child Welfare Act and the Child Abuse Prevention Act. The latter Act focuses on early detection and prevention of child abuse rather than punishment. In addition, In Japan, in order to guarantee children's right to express their opinions, there are provisions on measures to respect children's opinions in the supplementary provisions of the Child Welfare Act.
Although the public investigation of early response to child abuse focuses on the division of roles between the police and local governments, that is, securing a ‘boundary,’ efforts to strengthen organic 'connection and cooperation' between these institutions were insufficient. Thus, in order for the early response system to operate more smoothly and efficiently, laws and systems should be improved such that the investigation system centered on the police and the protection system centered on local governments can be ‘linked’ step by step. In order to strengthen the connection to the initial response to child abuse, Consideration of the best inter
ests of victimized children, reinforcement of multi-institutional cooperation, functionalization of a control tower centered on local governments, establishment of an information sharing system that can share the investigation system and protection system, and securing the expertise of those in charge should be carried out.
Child abuse investigation agencies need to take improvement efforts for response to each stage of investigation. First, in the report receiving stage, the inconvenience of reporting should be minimized by standardizing the reporting process such that the reporting system is operated centered on consumers rather than administrative convenience. In order to solve the inconvenience that the reporter experiences through several report confirmation processes after making the report, a common checklist for receiving a report should be prepared, and the information should be linked immediately such that the reporter does not repeat the procedure. Inside the police, they are paying attention to the protection of the reporter's personal information, but the protection of the reporter should be further strengthened to prevent information leaks from outside organizations such as schools and protective facilities. Second, in the stage of dispatching to the scene, specialized education should be conducted to improve the understanding of children’s development and communication skills such that the police in the dispatching district and female investigation team can quickly and accurately identify the abuse and the victim can make a statement in a stable situation. Efforts should be made to minimize the anxiety experienced by the victim being separated from the home environment by converting the current on-site measure centered on the separation of victimized child to the separation of actor. Third, in the child abuse investigation stage, as the field investigation of police division-investigation of female investigation team- monitoring process by the abuse prevention police officer take place, the information in the KICS and APO systems should be systematized such that the information in the KICS and APO systems can be linked and shared and the victim does not have to repeat statements.
In order to effectively protect and support children who are victims of child abuse, a procedure, which confirms the will and desires of the victimized child for each response stage, should be in place. When a child becomes a reporter, an atmosphere should be created in a way that the
child can make a statement in a comfortable and stable environment through formation of a sufficient rapport with the child. The child should be informed that stable statements can be made while separated from the actor. When it is determined that the child needs to be separated after being dispatched to the scene, the child should be able to foresee that separation from the parents can happen in addition to asking whether separation will take place, and understand the meaning of separation through explanation. By mentioning the environmental changes that may occur after separation, the victimized child should be able to fully anticipate such a situation and choose separation. Rather than focusing only on isolating the victimized child, there is a need to give priority to the way in which the actor is separated. Custody commission system, which is being implemented as one of the protective measures against the actor, should be activated, and the possibility of introduction, such as mandatory arrest of perpetrators, which is being considered for domestic violence issue in the U.S., can be considered. In order to strengthen support for victimized children, the minimum placement standards for victimized children protection facilities should be established for each regional unit, and efforts should be made to ensure that protection facilities are accessible to children with disabilities or mental illness. A system should be established to support the victimized child in the event that the original family suffers from poverty or mental problem between the child's return to home after separation.
In order to establish a linkage system between investigative institution and protection institution, the first thing to do is to strengthen the national child abuse information management system. Statistics on accompaniment dispatch, records of 112 and emergency calls, and early support cases should be secured such that information on child abuse can be checked on a regular basis. the reporting duty should be expanded to child welfare service and case management officials. Law enforcement officers should also be included such that they can actively report child abuse in a field where child abuse can be recognized. The report information is linked such that the case can be managed in an integrated way through the police 112 and local emergency phone calls. Mutual notice of results should be legally obligatory, and thus, cases are not omitted from the reporting process.
Detailed training in understanding each other's roles and specialized areas should be carried out by reorganizing the training of field personnel in the protection system and investigation system into joint training for field personnel and in-depth training courses for each specialized area. A common manual and guideline need to be established by integrating the individually operated work manuals. In the initial response process, a multi-institutional information sharing consultative body for investigation and protection systems should be formed such that the integrated system ranging from local-based report reception-site dispatch-investigation and investigation-action determination-post-management can be operated. In order to strengthen child abuse case management, integrated case management should be carried out through the case management team, which is jointly composed of the police APO and local government child protection team officials.
In order to strengthen the initial response to child abuse, the welfare approach and judicial approach need to be distinguished by reorganizing the rules of the Child Welfare Act and the Act on Punishment of Child Abuse. Efforts should be made to minimize the potential for human rights violations by examining the problems of the immediate separation system and address the problems by setting up appeals proceedings. The custody commission system for separation from the actor should be introduced in emergency measures and emergency temporary measures to make the separation from the actor effective. To strengthen the coercive force against the abuser, a plan to impose a fine rather than a fine for obstruction or refusal of an offender should be prepared, and a way to claim child protection measures through family court intervention should also be considered. In order to ensure consistency between the initial response manuals for child abuse, conflicting contents should be uniformly reorganized by checking the procedures for each manual. The guidelines for the independent judgment of the person in charge should be strengthened, and the contents of the guidelines on child abuse case management should be reinforced.