To select English subtitles, click on the Settings icon at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, click on the option labeled "subtitles/CC, and choose English.

Video Description

Type: KIHASA Policy Featurette

Topic: What Support Do Single-Parent Families Need?

Original video: [KIHASA Special] "Not Alone, But Together: Supporting the Lives of Single-Parent Families through Policy"

Related Research Monograph: “Time and Economic Resources of Single-Parent Families and Policies” by Lee Ayoung

https://repository.kihasa.re.kr/handle/201002/47363

Transcript

Vice President Yoo Mi-sook, Korea Unwed Mothers Support Network:

The government provides working single parents with up to 960 hours of childcare services per year. This figure is calculated on the assumption that four hours of care are needed each workday in a five-day workweek―two hours for morning drop-off and two hours for afternoon pick-up. In practice, however, two-hour sessions are often impractical, as few providers are willing to accept such short service periods. A minimum of three hours per session is therefore necessary for efficient service provision.

Research Fellow Lee Ah-young:

Current support systems for single parents focus on livelihood assistance, targeting low-income parents. As this approach has also been applied to hourly childcare services, many working single parents find themselves ineligible. Without access to these services or alternative childcare networks or facilities, maintaining employment can be a significant challenge. Consequently, time-based services need to be made more accommodating to the needs of working single parents.

Narrator:

Meanwhile, it has been pointed out that the current economic support framework has structural limitations. Under this framework, an income reversal effect occurs: once income exceeds a certain threshold, benefits are sharply reduced, and increased working hours actually lead to a decline in real income.