A new consultative body will deliver tailored support for single-person households, foreign residents, single-parent families and multicultural households, linking specialized services in counseling, welfare, medical care and legal aid with community resources through joint case conferences.
Seoul's Seongdong-gu will operate a consultative body dedicated to identifying vulnerable and at-risk households — including single-person households, foreign residents, single-parent families and multicultural families — at an early stage and swiftly connecting them with the support they need.
The consultative body is a cooperative framework through which local specialized agencies work together to identify and assist households facing complex hardships. It focuses on providing tailored support suited to each household's circumstances by linking the specialized services of each participating agency with community resources.
To that end, Seongdong-gu signed an MOU with five related agencies, including the Seongdong-gu Family Center, on Tuesday to formalize the body's operation. Six organizations are party to the agreement: Seongdong-gu, the Seongdong-gu Family Center, the Dongbu Foreign Residents Center, the Seongdong-gu Single-Person Household Support Center, the Seoul Seongdong Family Counseling Center and the Dongbu Crime Victims Support Center.
Under the agreement, participating agencies will cooperate in identifying vulnerable and at-risk households, making inter-agency referrals, holding case conferences based on the needs and crisis situations of referred individuals, and linking clients with specialized services — including counseling, welfare, medical care, legal aid and employment assistance — as well as broader community resources.
For complex crises that a single agency cannot resolve alone, the Seongdong-gu Family Center will oversee case conference operations while each agency contributes its area of expertise to jointly determine the necessary support. The aim is to move beyond siloed, single-agency assistance by coordinating services and resources across multiple organizations so that at-risk households receive help in a timely manner.
The consultative body will hold regular quarterly meetings to share case information and each agency's support plans. For urgent or complex cases requiring immediate intervention, agencies will convene ad hoc consultations to respond quickly.
Seongdong-gu District Mayor Yoo Bo-hwa said strengthening inter-agency cooperation is essential to connecting residents in crisis with the support they need more swiftly and systematically. "We will closely link the expertise and resources of each agency to build a tight-knit welfare safety net that delivers real, practical support to residents who need help," she said.
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