Life after orphanage can be a challenge, government concerned

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Life after orphanage can be a challenge, government concerned

Heo Jin-yi in front of a university she attended in spring 2014, soon after she left an orphanage in Busan. [HEO JIN-YI]

Heo Jin-yi in front of a university she attended in spring 2014, soon after she left an orphanage in Busan. [HEO JIN-YI]

As many as 3,000 Koreans a year end up leaving their homes and staying with a foster parent or at an orphanage, mostly due to domestic violence or abuse at home.  
 
The trouble does not end for them there: many of them until recently were left to fend for themselves on their own when they turned 18, because the orphanages and care facilities had been legally required to end their guardianship and send them on their way by that age.  
 
Heo Jin-yi remembers the day well when she turned 18 in the spring of 2014 and had to leave the orphanage in Busan she called her home all her life.  
 
She had just two pairs of pants and a T-shirt to fill her suitcase.  
 
The government gave her 8 million won ($6,099) as a stipend, but the money seemed to disappear within a few months for a teenager who has never had allowances.  
 
As she was starting to question if she can find her way to survive on her own, she heard that two members of the orphanage who left the home around the same time as her committed suicide.
 
“I thought then, as dangerous as such thinking may be, that it may be easier to be done with life,” Heo told the JoongAng Ilbo recently.
 
Heo, now 28, counts herself one of the lucky survivors among the orphans evicted from facilities in recent years.
 
The laws were changed last year to allow the teenagers to stay on until they turn 24, after as many as 13 teenagers who left orphanages committed suicide between 2019 and 2021, according to the office of Democratic Party Rep. Kang Sun-woo.
 
There can be more, as 27 teenagers who left orphanages in those years couldn’t be reached by the government as of 2021.  
 
“Once they turn of age, and if they refuse to be contacted, there is no way to stay in touch with them,” an employee of an orphanage care center in Busan told the paper.  
 
The center lost touch with a 21-year-old who had left an orphanage in 2020 and was found dead alone in his rented apartment in Geumjeong District, Busan, in November last year.  
 
One of the most important things needed for these recent "graduates" of orphanages is to have someone they can trust and seek advice from, someone who can link them to the rest of society, says Kim Hyung-mo, a professor of sociology at Kyonggi University in Seoul.  
 
“Self-reliant young people who have adjusted well to society have had at least one person to contact, whether it is the director of the facility or a mentor they met separately,” Kim said. “What they need is an adult they can ask questions to and share their concerns with, a type of mentor for life.”
 
The awards won by members of an orphanage at their schools in recent years. [YANG SU-MIN]

The awards won by members of an orphanage at their schools in recent years. [YANG SU-MIN]

The Yoon Suk Yeol administration in August last year addressed this issue in a presidential secretariat meeting.  
 
“We need to take care of these young adults like they are our own children,” Yoon was quoted to have said in the meeting.
 
Although there is usually one social worker assigned to take care of these orphanage graduates, the number of the workers is insufficient to allow for a one-on-one care.
 
According to Rep. Kang’s office, one social worker cared for around 102 orphanage graduates as of November last year.
 
The Health Ministry estimates that around 3,000 children or teenagers are separated from their parents by a social worker every year due to domestic violence, child abuse, divorce and other domestic issues.  
 
As many as 48.3 percent of cases of children and teenagers separated from their parents in 2021 concerned child abuse at home, according to the ministry.  
 
Of the 3,437 children or teenagers who were taken out of their homes by social workers in 2021, around two-thirds were moved to an orphanage or a care facility. The rest were moved to a foster home or adopted.
 
“Because we don’t have parents, it’s a tough world we face when we leave these facilities,” said a 19-year-old who had also recently left his orphanage. “I am starting my first year in university, and I intend to do it right from the start, there is no second chance for people like us.”
 
A diary entry by Jee Hye-in, a webtoon artist, on Feb. 21, 2020. In the entry, Jee wrote of her hopes for some kind of normalcy in her life after leaving an orphanage. [YANG SU-MIN]

A diary entry by Jee Hye-in, a webtoon artist, on Feb. 21, 2020. In the entry, Jee wrote of her hopes for some kind of normalcy in her life after leaving an orphanage. [YANG SU-MIN]

But over the years, as some graduates of orphanages began to find some normalcy in their lives, they began to seek out the younger graduates to be their mentors.
 
Heo and another graduate, Shin Seon, have been working at the Beautiful Foundation as campaigners to help raise awareness and fight stereotypes against orphanages.    
 
Some have also formed mentorship groups with the support of the Health Ministry, and other organizations such as the Holt Child Welfare Center.  
 
“My hope is that I can be of some help to people who have been in my shoes,” said Jee Hye-in, a webtoon artist, who has been mentoring teenagers at orphanages and other care facilities.  
 

BY YANG SU-MIN,ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]
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