Young people thrown into the deep end after care facilities

Social Affairs

Published: 11 Dec. 2023, 19:04

Young people thrown into the deep end after care facilities

A person cries alone. [JOONGANG PHOTO]

It’s been seven years since 25-year-old Park Kang-bin has been living alone since leaving a care facility.

But Park says it wasn’t easy standing alone in society, especially for people like him, who had no one to rely on and hadn’t been prepared.

“I often had dark thoughts,” Park said. “Most of the time, as I felt alone, I saw myself as the miserable character of a Korean TV drama.”

Park said that he eventually found the courage to overcome his loneliness with the help of teachers and seonbae, or seniors, who had gone through similar experiences.

“I gradually became independent,” Park said.

Care facilities produce few people who can stand on their own after they leave, like Park.

Young adults like Park, who had to leave the facility when they turned 18, and experts say the biggest flaw in the current system is that the government only hands these people a handful of grants when they leave.

As they are inexperienced and underprepared, many young adults tossed into society are at risk of exploitation.

Experts say financial support is not the solution to helping young adults raised in care facilities and foster homes settle into society, as psychological and instructive assistance is needed.

When he left the care facility in 2019 after turning 18, he witnessed firsthand increased government support that would help him stand on his own, including more generous subsidies and housing aid.

However, Park says government policies for people like him are more focused on what the government is supplying and not tailored to what recipients like him really need.

“The precondition for self-reliance is sufficient dependence,” said Jung Sun-wook, a social welfare professor at Duksung Women’s University.

According to the professor, children living in welfare facilities need to learn how to solve problems with the help of others at a young age.

“However, today's policies skip through the entire middle process and focus only on support once the facility protection ends with the discharge,” Jung said.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, 11,403 young adults saw their guardianships end in the last five years. Last year alone, 1,740 young adults' protection expired.

Though young adults used to be discharged from orphanages, care facilities and foster homes when turning 18, regulations changed in last June to allow them to extend their stay to age 24.

First Vice Health Minister Lee Ki-il announces welfare policies for young adults preparing to become self-sufficient at the Government Complex Seoul on Nov. 17 last year. [NEWS1]

The government has been scaling up the welfare perks, raising their resettlement funds and monthly stipends.

The city will also raise its monthly allowance from 400,000 won to 500,000 won.

Back in 2017, some 39 percent of released young adults received housing benefits from the state housing developer, Korea Land & Housing Corp. (LH). By 2021, more than 65 percent benefitted.

Despite the generous perks, the problem is that many are unprepared to face the world on their own.

They are completely unprepared for the real world before their release. They do not have older adults around them from whom they could seek advice.

Lee So-eun, 20, later learned that she was deceived by a realtor who conned her out of the resettlement payment she received from the government.

According to Yoon Jin, a case manager at the Daejeon Metropolitan City Association of Child Welfare, the realtor offered a property to Lee at three times the usual rent. The realtor made it sound like a discount.

“People with no experience have no choice but to trust them,” Yoon said. “These young people do not know the market and have no one to look after them.”

Cash benefits without a well-structured support system will likely end up as a “one-time benefit” with no prolonged effect after payout.

Getting a first job for such young people isn't easy, and since they don't have the leisure to seek a quality job, many end up landing temporary jobs.

Even if they get a job, many struggle to get accustomed to it and quit.

According to the welfare ministry, the 16.3 percent unemployment rate of young people from care facilities is nearly double the average 8.9 percent unemployment rate for ordinary young people.

“Instead of letting them have full-time jobs at first, vocational training that allows them to gradually work up to finding a quality job could be an alternative,” said Chung Soon-dool, a professor from the Department of Social Welfare of Ewha Womans University.

A systematic loophole undermines their chances of getting hired because the state cuts basic welfare payments once they apply for the short-term state-run internship program.

A diary memo of Ji Hye-in, a young woman preparing to be self-sufficient. It says that she felt like she was thrown on the street naked with no one to rely on. She writes she is terrified of being alone but will try to move forward. [YANG SU-MIN, JOONGANG PHOTO]

Emotional support — the most crucial need — remains inadequate.

Although young adults from care facilities are eligible to receive free-of-charge therapy sessions, “the applications for the second half of the year were closed as the budget [to bring sessions to care facilities] were already exhausted in the first half,” Yoon said.

According to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, one out of two people raised in foster homes or care facilities have had suicidal thoughts.

When asked what kind of help or aid is needed, 22 percent said they need no assistance, while 15 percent said they need a mentor to talk to.

“Repetitive therapy content and processes could be mundane and less helpful,” said Heo Min-sook, a National Assembly Research Service researcher. “Otherwise, this could result from the absence of timely help. Even today, quality support is not yet ready."

The welfare ministry plans to have 230 public service agents dedicated to helping young adults preparing to become independent next year. There were 120 and 180 personnel last year and this year, respectively.

Still, this will not reduce the heavy workload. Every agent will need to manage 70.8 young adults.

Some 40 percent of agents resigned, and their years of service, on average, is less than five months.

Besides, experts say the current system should be overhauled to establish a system young adults can depend on.

“To do so, support should be provided from a young age,” Jung said. “To make sure no welfare void occurs, [the authorities] should find young adults who left the facilities earlier than scheduled quickly. Extending the protection period is not a solution.”

“They have no one to lean on. With heavy psychological trauma related to their experiences of domestic abuse, they are more vulnerable to new failures. Thus, providing an environment where they could rebound is important,” Heo said.

BY SHIN SU-MIN, LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]