가정위탁제도에 관한 법적 고찰

A Study on the Foster Care System in Korea ― Focusing on Legal Status of Foster parents ―

The children who are in need of care and protection have significantly increased in Korea in recent years. Over the past decade in Korea, public child welfare systems have increasingly enlisted child’s relatives or individuals for service as foster parents, thus formalizing the provision of foster care system in the Children’s Welfare Act in 2005. Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made ward is placed in the private home of a caregiver referred to as a “foster parent”. Foster care is intended to be a short term situation until a permanent placement can be made, especially for reunification with the biological parents when it is deemed in the child's best interest. On application of the parents or with the parent consent, the foster parents step into the factual role of parent and are responsible for the day-to-day care of a child. However, there has been no legally based conducted about the role of foster parents unlike England and German. In response to such problems, The Parent and Child Act must be reviewed and reformed. The article concludes that The Parent and Child Act must clarify the legal status of those who actually care for a child but do not have parental authority, by providing that may do what is reasonable in all circumstances for the purpose of safeguarding or promoting the child’s “welfare” or “has minimum power necessary to provide for the day-to-day care of a child.”Also, reasonable limitations of parental authority should be defined in The Parent and Child Act. To develop and activate foster care system, it is important to establish the systematic standard. It would improve the children’s welfare in foster care and cultivate the right relationships between foster parents and biological parents.