A Case Study on the Negative Impact of Caregiver-Centered Operations on Social Welfare Service Utilization: Focused on Yangcheon-gu Adoptee Death Case

This study explores the negative impact of caregivers' social capital on the use of social welfare services through a case study of the child abuse death incident in Yangcheon-gu. By applying social capital theory, the study analyzes how caregivers' intangible capital restricts the rights and choices of vulnerable users, such as children, in the operation of social welfare services. The research methods involved frequency analysis and literature analysis using Textom, revealing the structural issues where children’s choice rights were limited due to caregivers’ social capital during the handling of abuse cases by key actors such as the police, daycare centers, and adoption agencies. The results showed that social capital facilitated a caregiver-centered service operation, leading to situations where children's rights were inadequately protected. Specifically, adoption agencies and the police prioritized their networks and trust with the caregivers over the children's interests, resulting in inadequate protection of the children. In contrast, daycare centers intervened relatively more in line with the children's interests, but were still constrained in their role due to the imbalance of social capital. This study suggests that the imbalance of social capital between caregivers and users in social welfare services can distort service delivery, highlighting the need for institutional interventions and the strengthening of advocacy systems. These measures aim to provide concrete solutions for realizing user-centered service operations in social welfare services in the future.