As of the end of 2017, there were 3,213 children with disabilities aged less than 18 years living in residential homes for persons with disabilities, accounting for 3.6% of all children with disabilities. These children require appropriate and tailored support to grow into a sound member of society while they reside at such facilities and after they are discharged upon reaching adulthood.

However, children with disabilities residing at facilities are categorized not as children but as persons with disabilities and as a result, they are excluded from such policies as support for self-reliance for children subject to protection under the Child Welfare Act. The current Act only prescribes support for self-reliance for all persons with disabilities. Consequently, the support for self-reliance provided at a number of residential facilities for persons with disabilities are administered in an amateur and peripheral manner to all persons with disabilities instead of accounting for the characteristics of children with disabilities.

Accordingly, the Amendment prescribes that the State and local governments shall provide support programs for housing, livelihood, education, employment, etc., and other assistance necessary for self-reliance to children and youth with disabilities who use residential facilities for persons with disabilities and are aged 15 to 24 years. It also prescribes the installation and operation of the relevant agencies and requires an operator of a residential facility for persons with disabilities to formulate and implement self-reliance support plans for individual children and youth with disabilities, thereby aiming to assist them in becoming a sound member of society (Article 53-2 through Article 53-4 newly inserted).

Require operators of residential facilities for persons with disabilities to formulate self-reliance support plans for individual children and youth with disabilities, and train the employees who execute the plans on self-reliance support (Article 53-4, paragraph 1)