Even after the enactment of the “Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Child Abuse Crime” in 2014, there still remains a large group of abused children without proper services and protection. This study focuses on the construction of a support system for abused children.

This study divided the support system into three functions:reporting, service provision, and ex-post management. To better understand the current support system, we interviewed child protection employees and child facility employees about child abuse cases and needed policy items. Furthermore, to find out proper supporting system for abused children, the delphi survey was conducted twice of the professionals on child abuse. Moreover, after examining supporting systems of the USA, Japan and Sweden, this study provides suggestions for the improvement of support system for abused children in Korea.

The study adopted a holistic approach to achieve the goal. The proposed support system for abused children is as follows.  First, improving the reporting system requires recruiting a broader pool workers responsible for child abuse reporting and educating them. Also, the use of big data tools can help improve the promotion of report route to the public. Second, construction of service provision system is suggested. By adopting the differential response system, high risk cases are dealt with under the new act, but low and medium risk cases are treated under the different system where the prevention and provision of various services are prioritized to prevent recurrence. Third, construction of infra-structure is mentioned, since the first two propositions can be achieved only when CPS and its employees are enough in numbers, as well as they are better treated in work places and well equipped with on-the-job-training. Lastly, the prevention of child abuse and promotion of public awareness on it are discussed. It has been agreed on the fact that the prevention of child abuse is most important among others. Discipline of children has been one of the most debated issues in Korea. To change people’s attitude toward how children should be disciplined requires educating Korean parents on alternative child discipline methods.