Single Parents Should Have Access to Childcare Facilities

In a recent incident, a 3-year-old child was recently given over to the Korean police while walking alone at -18°C without a decent outfit. It happened that the mother of the child is a single parent. Due to this, the challenge of living as a single parent has become a vital concern for child welfare in Korea.

Nowadays, single-parent families have become even more common than the typical family consisting of a mother, father, and children. More so, multiple responsibilities such as caring for the children, maintaining a job, and keeping up with the bills and household chores alone can be overwhelming.

Following this, many children from single-parent headed people fall victim to negligence or lack of proper care. Out of these incidents, many controversial opinions have arisen regarding single parenting. Therefore, Real Research surveyed to know the public’s view about the difficulties faced by single parents for taking care of their children.

Highlights

• More than 75% of the Korean respondents are married, and around 25% of them are single parents.
• 80% of the respondents have heard about the 3-year-old child being recently handed over to the police while wandering alone at -18°C without a proper outfit.
• Roughly 50% said that because of this incident, they can “feel the hard life of being a single parent.” Moreover, they think that certain support for single parents is much needed in order to protect the children.
• The majority think that single parents need childcare facilities (~74%) the most as a welfare system.

Around 25% Are Single Parents

More than 75% of Korean respondents are married. In addition, they are mainly aged 49-60 years old. According to this Real Research Survey, 24.5% of the respondents answered that they are single parents. This shows that almost a quarter of the participants are raising their kids alone.

Children are nurtured by single parents due to multiple reasons. Furthermore, nowadays, we see all sorts of single parenting that includes even fathers alone. In fact, out of the single parents of this survey, the majority are males (12.5%).

Though the larger part of the respondents in this question are married, single parenting has become a subject to take note of. The reality is that the number of children living with single parents continues to increase over the years. In detail, the percentage of single-parent families in Korea is 9.4 percent of all households.

Globally, single-parent families have also become increasingly common with around 1.8 million. Moreover, single parents are reported to have higher stress levels than dual-parents do. Thus, there is a need to push for policy and societal change that can support solo-parent households.

Difficulties Faced by Single Parents

Life in a single-parent household though common can be quite stressful for the adult and the children. Surprisingly, when asked if they faced challenges as single parents, 487 participants responded that they rarely faced any difficulties.

Most often single parenting is associated with a number of problems. However, the survey results show that most single parents are able to juggle caring for the children, maintaining a job, and keeping up with the bills and household chores. In line with this, 217 respondents noted that they never face any challenges as single parents.

On contrary, the Real Research survey has shown that there are single parents who often face difficulties as single parents. These constitute 8.6% of the respondents. Closer to this percentage is 7.6% which is a result of single parents who answered that they always face difficulties. The responsibilities of being a single parent can be overwhelming.

Single-parent families deal with many other pressures and potential problem areas that other families may not face. Hence, some can face difficulties more often as they raise their families. Lastly, 8.7% said they encounter difficulties sometimes.

Life of a Single Parent Is Hard

When asked about their opinion regarding the recent incident, almost 50% agree that this situation made them “feel the hard life of being a single parent”. Moreover, this shows that certain support should be given to single parents in order to protect the children.

In this type of situation, negligence on the welfare of children is one of the consequences of becoming a single parent. That is why over 30% confirm that they can never understand how someone can neglect a 3-year-old kid. They think that she is not capable to raise her own child, and she shouldn’t have.

On the other hand, around 20% think that the child should be separated until the mother’s claim is proven right. As far as the investigation went, the child claims carelessness on the single-parent side. These include going to the nursery against his will and not being fed properly.

Single Parents Need Childcare Facility

Based on the survey, over 70% agree that having access to childcare facilities is needed by single parents. On average, Korean parents with young children spend an average of 200,000 won per month on child care.

As per the local government, the single-parent family policy’s purpose is to support for the stable living of low-income single-parent family, formation of self-support foundation and healthy growth of their children.

Besides, Koreans also think that financial support (13%) and educational support (~7%) are also important welfare systems for single parents. This is necessary for solo parents to properly support their kids while growing up and make sure that all their needs are being met.