Our welfare system is still failing the poor

A 40-something woman was found dead in a multi-residential home in Jeongju, North Jeolla. The autopsy suggests death from arteriosclerosis complications. Near the decaying body was a fragile 4-year boy, unfed for days. When the boy awoke in a...

A 40-something woman was found dead in a multi-residential home in Jeongju, North Jeolla. The autopsy suggests death from arteriosclerosis complications. Near the decaying body was a fragile 4-year boy, unfed for days. When the boy awoke in a hospital, he looked for his mother.

The police presume the victim had been under economic stress for a lengthy period, given her joblessness and overdue payments on utility bills and rent. Her home was found littered with stacks of payment reminders and trash. The boy’s life could also have been lost if the homeowner did not call the police after repeatedly failing to reach her tenant.

The woman had been on the government's watch list for “households in danger.” The government has been strengthening its surveillance of fragile households ever since the suicide of a mother and her two adult daughters residing in Songpa, Seoul, in 2014 due to financial stress. A household becomes a special care unit eligible for emergency allowance if it misses payments in 34 categories, including utility bills, for more than three months, after alerting the city, county, and district authorities.

Jeonju City in July received files from the welfare ministry on the woman in question in July. It notified the woman of her eligibility and tried to locate her, but she was not found because she hadn't registered her exact address. If the officials had tried harder by asking neighbors, her fate could have been different.

The welfare system, aiming to help households on the brink, often kicks in too late. The mother and two daughters who killed themselves in Suwon also couldn't be saved because their actual home differed from the address reported to the authorities. When registering a move, a specific address including the exact room number should be recorded. Together with improvements in administration, public caregivers should also be more eager to save households in danger.

Administrative loopholes require immediate attention. Many of the benefits ask for voluntary filing. Many poor individuals are not aware of the benefits. The poor often move around to avoid creditors. The discovery system should be improved by mobilizing help from community members.

The child found near the dead mother was unregistered. He was missing from the list of “shadow children” after the government investigated unregistered births from June to July. The child had not been neglected by his mother as he was wearing a summer diaper to prevent getting a rash from the heat. But his name was not on the family registration document. A bill mandating birth reports passed in July, but the legislation needs to be supplemented so that anonymous births can come under protection.