KWDI Korean Women’s Development Institute

A Study on the Improvements of the Legal System

for Protection of Children of Multicultural Families

 

Hyo Jean Song
Soyoung Kim
So-Young An
Yeon-Jae Kim

This study took a two-pronged approach to address issues and problems of the legal system for children of multicultural families. It sought to identify material and urgent issues that require legal protection from human rights perspectives and develop improvements for the legal system to address them for children with various multicultural family backgrounds including ① children eligible for support under the existing Multicultural Family Support Act, foreign-born children and refugee children under the Refugee Act, and ② unregistered children who fall outside the legal system.

For this purpose, this study reviewed the statistical status of children of multicultural families and relevant domestic and international laws. Interviews were conducted with 25 adolescents and their parents with multicultural backgrounds in order to understand the current status, issues, and problems. The interviews revealed problems that included unpaid childcare expenses and lack of childcare after the break-up of multicultural families, difficulties of continued education by foreign-born adolescents, Korean-born refugee children, no guarantee of the right to medical care and education due to impossible birth registration of unregistered immigrant children. In addition, expert consultations were conducted with field experts including activists, counselors, lawyers, etc. relating to children of multicultural families for four times in order to obtain advice on issue identification and improvements development.

Plans for expansion were proposed in support of children of multicultural families and rights security, based on the aforementioned fact-findings.

Also proposed were better understanding of multicultural families in divorce procedures for protection of children going through a divorce, increased number of human resources with expertise and guarantee of stay for guarantee of visitation rights. Measures for prevention and solution of child dispossession and the applicable provisions on strengthening support for multicultural families in crisis before and after divorce were developed. The enactment of international adoption procedures regarding adoption and dissolution of adoption of foreign-born children and programs for parental education before adoption, and inclusion of dissolved foreign-born children into those eligible for support under the Single-Parent Family Support Act and granting of simplified naturalization qualifications were suggested as well. In addition, the reinforcement of counseling and support for children who are victims of domestic violence and child abuse in multicultural families, requirement of specification of grounds, establishment of applicable special provisions on refugee children under the Multicultural Family Support Act, and inclusion of foreign-born and refugee children into those eligible for support under the Single-Parent Family Support Act were proposed too.

Plans for fast-track processing of application and humanitarian consideration for refugee children who need protection, payment of additional living expenses in case pregnant women and children aged less than three years old are accompanied, and inclusion of humanitarian residents and children into those eligible for support under the Urgent Welfare Support Act should also be included. The establishment of the special provisions on foreign birth registry in the Family Relation Registration Act or the provisions on foreign birth registration and verification in Korea in order to protect rights of children of multicultural families who could not receive legal protection, and introduction of birth notification by medical institutions were highly recommended. This study also proposed plans for excluding foreign children under the age of 18 under the Immigration Control Act from those eligible for compulsory eviction in order to prevent compulsory eviction of immigrant children and establishing the special provisions on stay permit to guarantee family union rights. In addition, plans to seek an alternative for detention of minors and their parents for protection of human rights of illegal immigrant children, and stipulate local healthcare insurance for guarantee of the immigrant children’s right to medical care and permission of admission and transfer, which is currently at the discretion of a principal for guarantee of the right to education were proposed as well.