Gyeonggi Province Receives Commendation from Interior Minister for First National Program to Identify At-Risk Children Through Resident Registration Survey

[Suwon Ilbo=Correspondent Seo Dong-young] Gyeonggi Province has been selected as an "Outstanding Organization for 2019 Resident Registration and Signature Verification" and will receive a commendation from the Interior Minister. This is due to the province's implementation of a "resident registration factual survey" in connection with field visits for identifying at-risk children—a first-ever initiative nationwide.

In a survey conducted by the Ministry of Interior and Safety targeting 226 local governments across the nation, Gyeonggi Province was selected as an outstanding metropolitan local government alongside three other regional governments including Busan, Sejong City, and Gangwon Province. The resident registration factual survey conducted by the province in connection with identifying at-risk children received an evaluation during last month's state audit as "a promising project that should be expanded nationwide."

The province stated that the resident registration factual survey for identifying at-risk children, implemented for the first time nationwide, played a decisive role in its selection as an outstanding organization.

During the "second quarter resident registration factual survey" conducted over 47 days from June 10 to July 26, the province simultaneously conducted field visits to investigate families with children receiving childcare allowances. In addition to civil servants in the province's resident registration and social welfare divisions, heads of administrative divisions (tong and ri) from the 31 cities and counties throughout the province participated. Out of approximately 164,000 children surveyed, the province identified 73 at-risk children facing difficult circumstances, connected them with welfare services, and provided welfare counseling.

The province recommended to the Ministry of Interior and Safety a plan to conduct nationwide surveys to expand the system for actively identifying at-risk children in "welfare blind spots" to the entire nation. It is also in consultation with the Ministry of Health and Welfare and other related agencies.

The province plans to continue making various efforts to identify at-risk children, including establishing a system for early detection of children in crisis situations throughout the province and implementing appropriate measures. The province plans to present commendations to the heads of administrative divisions who participated in the survey.

A provincial official stated, "We were able to achieve good results thanks to civil servants and administrative heads who worked diligently with a sense of mission to help children in crisis, despite feeling considerable workload burden in conducting child surveys alongside factual surveys."