Staff Reporter
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-race 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.”
다문화가정 아이들 사회문제로 대두
최근 다문화가정이 해체되는 과정에서 버려지는 아동들이 계속 늘어나 새로운 사회문제로 대두되고 있다.
11일 서울시 아동복지센터에 따르면 이곳의 다문화가정 출신 보호 아동은 2008년 2명에서 작년 7명으로 증가했고 올해에도 3월까지만 3명이 더 들어왔다.
경기도 의정부와 안양 아동 일시 보호소에도 10여명의 다문화 가정 아동이 입소했다.
이는 지방자치단체가 운영하는 보호시설에 입소한 건만 따진 것으로, 크고 작은 사설보육원 등에 들어간 아동을 포함하면 다문화가정 출신의 버려진 아동은 훨씬 더 많을 것으로 예상되지만 전국 단위의 통계는 없다.
보호시설에 들어온 아동들은 대부분 중국과 베트남, 필리핀 등지에서 결혼 이민을 온 외국인 어머니와 한국인 아버지 사이에 태어났다가 가정폭력 등으로 가정이 깨지면서 보호소에 맡겨진 경우가 많은 것으로 알려졌다.
