Host Parent Challenges

[Anchor Lead]

Children in Korea who cannot be raised by their biological parents due to divorce, disability or poverty are often cared for by host parents. But being a host parent requires much sacrifice and entails many challenges as laws covering this area are often non-existent or get in the way.

[Pkg]

Taking care of a 12-year-old can be quite a challenge. This couple in their 50s are the host parents of a boy with intellectual disabilities. His biological parents had severe disabilities and struggled to even remember that they had a child. The couple decided to become the boy's host parents five years ago. They could not just keep watching the harsh conditions in which he had been raised.

[Soundbite] Lee Ra-hye (Host Parent) : "We try our best to give him love. This involves a lot of tears as well. That's how we become one family."

The couple faced numerous challenges raising their host son. They were turned down when they tried to enroll him in school, sign a surgical consent form when he got hurt, receive certifying documents for him or sign him up for insurance. That's because under the current law host parents have no parental rights and are classified as "cohabitants."

[Soundbite] Kim Sang-hoon (Host Parent): "I would like to sign him up for disability insurance, but I can't."

As time goes by, host families face even more inconvenience. Fifteen years ago, Kim Hyun-hee became the host mother of a two-year-old boy who turned 17 this year. The boy needed a bank account, a mobile phone and a passport to travel overseas, but his host mother had no right to help him with all that. Host families receive monthly subsidies of just 150,000 won. Some 12,000 children in Korea are currently being raised by their host families, who receive little financial or administrative help.