Helping Unmarried Mothers in Korea

The childbirth-support single-parent family welfare facility “Maeumjari” has opened “Soul Bloom,” a workshop designed to help unmarried mothers achieve economic independence, as it celebrates its 20th anniversary. This was an article in the  Catholic Peace Weekly.

Maeumjari has provided a safe environment for single-parent families caring for children under the age of three, as well as for pregnant women in crisis and those needing support due to domestic violence. It has served as a parental home for unmarried mothers who had nowhere else to turn.

Having spent the past 20 years supporting numerous single-parent families through crisis pregnancies, childbirth, and child-rearing, Maeumjari is now taking active steps to help them become self-sufficient. In response to the steady increase in single-parent families over the past five years, it established the workshop to help them maintain stable daily lives even after achieving independence.

According to the National Data Agency in 2023, there were approximately 1.53 million single-parent households in Korea, accounting for 8% of all households. Among them, 84% were female-headed households, many of whom faced difficulties becoming self-reliant due to low-income and non-regular employment. An analysis of 35 families that Maeumjari had supported through follow-up care over the past five years found that 29 households (83%) were recipients of basic livelihood assistance. Only one household had regular full-time employment.

To provide more than one-time assistance, Maeumjari opened “Soul Bloom,” a self-reliance support workshop that offers vocational training. Funding from the charitable foundation Babo Nanum played a significant role in making the project possible.

At a press conference on June 11 marking the opening of Soul Bloom, Maeumjari announced, “We have selected five mothers from single-parent families as the first class of ‘Bloomies,’ who will participate in the single-parent self-reliance support project.” It explained that these women face not only the challenges of raising children alone as unmarried mothers but also career interruptions and depression, making it difficult for them to enter the workforce immediately. Maeumjari added, “Just like the name Bloomie suggests, we hope these mothers discover their own potential and blossom again.”

Soul Bloom is equipped with facilities for coffee preparation, baking, and cooking. Maeumjari plans to continue promotional and networking activities to promote single-parent family self-reliance across 10 parishes and to sell a variety of products made by participants.

One mother selected as a Bloomie said, “My heart races at the thought of being able to work again. I want to become a mother who sets a positive example for my child and helps change society’s prejudice against single-parent families.”