The Structure and Practice of Inter-Agency Collaboration in the Child Abuse Response System: A Case Study of Practitioners in Ansan

This study investigates the operation of Korea’s child abuse response system after its 2021 public institutionalization, based on practitioners’ experiences in Ansan City. Through qualitative interviews with 15 professionals, findings show excessive workloads, high turnover, limited expertise, and role ambiguity within agencies. Interagency collaboration faced impractical manuals, fragmented information systems, and unclear accountability, while social changes created further challenges such as multicultural and high-need children and insufficient protection infrastructure. The study underscores structural weaknesses of the tripartite system and calls for strengthened personnel, institutional capacity, integrated systems, and expanded care resources.