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Government-dispatched caregiver accused of child abuse for 'disciplining' toddler

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 CCTV footage shows a caregiver striking a child's head at a home in Incheon's Seo-gu on Dec. 31. Courtesy of the child's mother

CCTV footage shows a caregiver striking a child's head at a home in Incheon's Seo-gu on Dec. 31. Courtesy of the child's mother

By KTimes

A woman dispatched through a government-operated child care service has been accused of assaulting a toddler under her care. Police are investigating the allegations.

The Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency said Monday that it received a child abuse report involving A, a caregiver employed by the Incheon Seo-gu Childcare Support Center.

According to the informant, identified as B, A was a caregiver dispatched through a child care service run by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. Since March last year, A had cared for B's twin children, born in 2022, for eight hours on weekdays.

The child care service offers in-home care for children under 12 years old in families facing caregiving gaps due to dual-income parents. B applied for the "Infant All-Day Care Service," which targets infants under 36 months.

While using the service, B became dissatisfied, alleging that A engaged in unrelated housekeeping tasks and interfered in parenting matters instead of focusing on child care. B requested a replacement caregiver from the local child care center, but the center cited a staffing shortage as the reason for denying the request. Left with no other option, B continued using A's services until December 2024.

Late last month, the center informed B that A would be unable to work temporarily due to personal circumstances, and a substitute caregiver would visit instead. As B, who is pregnant, planned to be out of the house for health checkups during this period, she installed a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera in her home on Jan. 6.

Upon reviewing the CCTV footage, B discovered shocking scenes. The footage showed A striking one of the toddlers' feet multiple times with a back scratcher.

Alarmed, B reviewed earlier footage, which revealed additional instances of abuse, including A hitting the child's head, shoving the child, yelling and acting aggressively.

B reported these incidents to the child care center on Jan. 8 and subsequently filed a police report accusing A of child abuse.

A caregiver uses a back scratcher to strike a child's foot at a home in Incheon on Jan. 3. Courtesy of the child's mother

A caregiver uses a back scratcher to strike a child's foot at a home in Incheon on Jan. 3. Courtesy of the child's mother

The child care center convened a mediation committee the day after the report was filed and immediately prohibited A from further activities.

B said that A later called to confront her, asking, "Why did you report me?" A defended her actions, saying, "I disciplined the child because the mother didn't" and "I only hit lightly because I thought the child was cute."

The number of government-dispatched caregivers has steadily increased since 2020, reaching 28,663 in 2024. According to statistics from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, cases of abuse involving these caregivers have averaged over 30 incidents annually from 2020 to last year.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.



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