Independence and retirement support for people with developmental disabilities... Seoul City's 'Future Living Plan Registration System'

The Seoul Metropolitan Government is introducing the 'Future Living Plan Registration System' for the first time, which allows people to decide in advance where they will live and what kind of support they will receive in case there is a gap in the care of people with developmental disabilities due to aging or death of parents.

In the early stages of registering a disability, families will be contacted first to inform them of available services, and support tailored to the life cycle, from infants and toddlers to adults and middle-aged and elderly health care, will also be strengthened.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 12th that it will prepare the '3rd Basic Plan to Support Persons with Developmental Disabilities (2026-2030)' containing these contents and promote 34 projects under two major strategies by investing 707.5 billion won by 2030.

The Future Living Plan Registration System is a system that reflects the wishes of the parties and designs housing, care, health, income support, and emergency contact networks in advance so that people with developmental disabilities can continue living in a familiar community even after their parents become unable to care for them.

First, support will focus on households where a person with a developmental disability is over 40 years old or a parent is over 70 years old, or where one parent is taking care of the child alone, or where there is concern about a gap in care due to a serious illness or hospitalization. A pilot project will begin next year targeting 20 to 40 households.

Starting in 2028, a 'Support Center for Children with Disabilities and Developmental Disabilities' will be established in each autonomous district and will be entrusted with identifying and counseling subjects, establishing future living plans, linking housing and care, and responding to crises.

The center aims to increase from 2 in 2028 to 6 in 2030 and to be installed in all 25 autonomous districts in the long term.

We are also changing the way we support families facing disabilities for the first time.

If the guardian agrees, the Family Support Center for the Disabled will contact them first to inform them of available welfare services and connect them with psychological counseling and medical institutions.

Daycare visits, online developmental testing, and early intervention will also be expanded to increase the number of children eligible for individual support from 85 this year to 350 in 2030.

At school age, we support after-school activities, social adaptation, career planning, and work experience, and at young and middle age, we strengthen support for self-determination so that they can choose their own housing, medical care, and welfare services.

The number of communication experts will also increase from 28 currently to 70 in 2030, and the number of adult day activity service users will increase from 1,580 to 3,000.

The '40+ Day Use Facility', which provides health care and cognitive and motor rehabilitation to middle-aged and elderly people with developmental disabilities aged 40 or older, will start at 10 locations next year and increase to 30 locations by 2030. We also support early screening for stomach and colon cancer and health and rehabilitation programs.

In addition, the city will expand specialized jobs and support housing for the developmentally disabled, 24/7 emergency care, and integrated care for the most severely developmentally disabled, and will also promote an artificial intelligence (AI)-based disappearance prevention system, public guardianship and property management, and legal support for rights relief.

This plan was prepared with the goal of sharing the care responsibilities that have been concentrated on families with the community and the public in response to the increase in people with developmental disabilities and aging population.

The number of registered developmentally disabled people in Seoul increased from 29,447 in 2015 to 38,082 in June this year, and during the same period, the number of people aged 60 or older more than doubled from 1,324 to 2,776.

Jeong Jin-woo, director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Welfare Department, said, "We will support people with developmental disabilities so that they can make their own decisions about their own lives when they become adults and enjoy a normal daily life in the neighborhood where they live," and added, "We will work with the community to design and share the care that families have been providing."