Our society is rapidly becoming industrialized and urbanized. Therefore, the topic of sex which was opened has caused side effects. As the freedom of action grows and the age of puberty occurs earlier, a conversational attitude changed to a positive attitude. This caused many problems, and the problem of teenage unmarried mothers became serious.
The problem is becoming worse, but the system of welfare is still weak. Babies who are delivered to unmarried mothers are abandoned or raised at an institution because fostering them is hard. Very few orphans are ever adopted. Also, they are faced with a financial problem. Although they want to bring them up, keeping them is hard without exterior help such as the system of welfare. To solve those problems, how should the system of welfare be changed?
First, the consulting service for unmarried mothers should be improved. About a hundred consulting institutions for them are located in Korea. However, the institutions cannot achieve their role fully. Those are only located in large cities, so consulting is difficult for people in rural areas. The family of unmarried mothers should be consulted at the same time. To consider the returning home after the childbirth, their parents need to be educated to understand the mental state of their children.
Secondly, the improvement of law is needed. In the problem of unmarried mothers, the process of birth and bringing up a baby is not only the obligation of the unmarried mother. There are problems which should be shared with unmarried fathers. However, the responsibility of raising the baby is passed to the unmarried mothers. It is not only a common social idea, but also a weak legal system. By filing a lawsuit, they can accept the expense of bringing up a child. However, the unmarried mothers avoid lawsuits because it is very difficult, and child custody is taken away if they make a mistake. Therefore, the legal system which blocks an unmarried father from passing the buck to an unmarried mother should be prepared.
Finally, the improvement of institutions for unmarried mothers is required. The aid that unmarried mothers most want is protection, before and after the childbirth, and assistance about the costs of birth. However, there are only a few institutions that can offer these services in Korea. On this account, the number of institutions needs to be increased. Also, connected with the institution, a system that can solve the living problem by providing vocational training is needed.
In the West, the unmarried mother’s families treat them as members of the family. Foreigners recognize the reason of the unmarried mother’s situation as the society’s problem, not an individual problem. Society needs to recognize that unmarried mothers not only need support, but also have rights. Also, abundant economic aid is needed to solve their adversities. These solutions have effects to prevent problems which will be caused by unmarried mothers before the problems occur. Through the examples of foreign countries, proposed measures need to be reinforced to minimize unmarried mother’s problems.
Going one step forward, changing the community’s recognition is needed. This recognition is an important solution. In general, the prejudices about unmarried pregnancies have been that they are criminal. If the personal rights of newborn babies and the effects of society are considered, the problems of unmarried mothers will be recognized and a common solution for our society and our nation will be taken. Can you realize that unmarried mothers are positive members of society?