Children of Illegal Workers

In the best-run  societies there will always be those who fall between the cracks. The Catholics of Korea are turning their attention to the children of foreign workers illegally in the country. The children of these foreign workers are not provided benefits other children routinely receive, such as educational and health benefits, because their births have not been registered. It is a blind spot in our societal concerns.

There are 1748 children of foreign workers now attending schools. However, it's assumed that about 8000 children between the ages of 6 and 15  are not attending school because their parents, being here illegally, fear to register the birth of these children.

However, children whose births have been registered get the privileges. The bishops' committee concerned for foreign workers met recently and publicly announced that all children should have the right to an education. Children of the illegals don't receive protection under the law, are confused about their identity, have difficulties in learning to speak Korean, and suffer because of the poor financial situation of their parents.

Concerned Catholics are hoping that there is some way of showing concern for these children. The Church also should be playing a part in resolving some of the problems that arise from the situation. The bishops said that we should not only solve the present problem but uncover the reasons we have this problem in the first place.

An article and an editorial in the Peace Weekly explain that Korea is now a multicultural society, with over 1 million 400 thousand foreigners residing in Korea; about half are foreign workers searching for the Korean dream. Even though many of these foreign workers, after their contract period is over, remain in the country illegally, creating the present problem, there needs to be found a humane way of dealing with this unfortunate condition that both the country and the illegal foreigners will find acceptable.