Specialized childcare program for infants between 0 and 12 months old
The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) is introducing a specialized childcare program for infants between 0 and 12 months old at select daycare centers starting in March as part of its Happy Parents Project, which was launched to make the city a great place for raising children.
The program will be run by certified daycare specialists who have specialized educational qualifications to care for infants who require delicate care. The daycare centers will offer the program in dedicated nursery rooms where each caregiver will be responsible for two infants, which is less than the current legal requirement of three.
The objective of this program is to improve the city’s childcare environment by providing reliable places for parents, such as double-income households, to leave their children in care after maternity leave while reducing the workload of daycare teachers.
The city held an open call for submissions and finalized its designation of 100 classes at 70 daycare centers to run this specialized childcare program starting in March. Of the 70 daycare centers selected for this program, 28 (approx. 40%) of them are new to holding a daycare class for infants between 0 to 12 months old. Accordingly, the city expects that this program will drive more daycare centers to newly introduce and operate classes for infants, creating a solution for the increasing demand on daycare programs for infants.
The city will subsidize the daycare centers’ operating costs and extra compensation as well as contribute to the improvement of personnel through staff training and capacity building sessions related to infant care, including lectures on the developmental characteristics of infants between 0 and 12 months old, in cooperation with the Seoul Foundation of Women & Family.
Seoul expects this specialized childcare program for infants between 0 and 12 months old to alleviate working parents’ burden of childcare, and plans to gradually expand this program by closely monitoring the demand and satisfaction rate during the pilot operation period.