본 논문은 아동 및 노인의 학대와 방임에 대한 국가개입의 주요 수단인 노인보호전문기관(그리고 아동학대전담공무원) 및 아동보호전문기관의 활동이 학대예방을 효과적으로 수행할 수 있도록 제도적으로 설계되어 있는지 분석하고, 학대예방 활동의 실효성을 제고하기 위한 법제도 개선방안을 제시하였다. 이를 위한 분석대상은 아동복지법과 그 시행령, 시행규칙, 노인복지법과 그 시행령, 시행규칙, 아동학대처벌법이다. 아동보호전문기관(그리고 아동학대전담공무원) 및 노인보호전문기관의 활동의 효과성을 분석하는 기준으로 아동의 경우는 학대재발방지를 위한 부모의 양육역량 강화 장치 여부, 이것이 어렵거나 불가능할 경우 제3자에 의한 보호서비스와의 연계성 여부, 학대피해노인의 경우는 자기보호 역량강화를 위한 다양한 법적 수단과의 연계성 여부, 학대피해의 구제를 위한 민사적, 형사적, 행정적 구제수단에 대한 접근성 보장 여부 등을 설정하였다. 이 분석틀에 따라 현행 아동 및 노인 분야의 학대예방 및 피해구제 서비스의 적정성 및 문제점을 분석하였다. 연구 결과, 아동의 경우 비범죄 아동학대에 대한 신속한 개입 근거가 미약하고, 학대피해아동을 위한 보호계획이 아동복지법 제3장 제1절의 보호서비스와 연계될 수 있는 구체적 장치가 불충분함을 확인할 수 있었다. 노인의 경우 학대재발방지를 위한 자기역량 강화의 법적 수단이 불충분할 뿐만 아니라, 학대재발방지를 위한 아동복지법 상의 보호서비스와 유사한 대책이 거의 전무함을 확인하였다. 이를 토대로 이 논문은 학대관련서비스는 학대행위자의 처벌이 아니라 아동 및 노인의 보호에 초점을 맞추어야 하며, 비범죄 학대에 대한 개입을 강화해야 하고, 학대관련서비스가 아동 및 노인을 위한 보호서비스와 효과적으로 연계될 수 있도록 해야 함을 제안하였다.
Since the Ac on The Prevention of Domestic Violence and Protection of Victims 1997 and the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Crimes of Domestic Violence 1997, the state intervention into child abuse and elderly abuse, which used to be deemed as domestic affairs, has been increasing, and the Child Protection Agency, whose role is to be replaced by the anti-child abuse officers to some extent, and the Elderly Protection Agency were established in 2000 and 2004 respectively. Despite these organizations’ endeavor, the cases of child abuse and elderly abuse have been increased so that the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes 2014 was enacted to deter child abuse and similar enactment has been under consideration in the field of elderly abuse. Having in mind the fact that the Child Protection Agency and the Elderly Protection Agency aim at protecting victims as social services agencies rather than punishing abusers and assisting criminal victims as criminological agencies, this paper analyses whether and how the effectiveness of these agencies’ intervention is laid out by relevant legislation, the purpose of which is to propose which legislative improvement shall be undertaken to promote the effectiveness of preventing child and elderly abuse reoccurrence through social work intervention by these agencies. The subject legislations of this paper for that purpose are the Child Welfare Act,d its regulation and directive, the Elder Welfare Act, its regulation and directives, and the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes. To get an analysis criteria, with which to analyse the fitness and defectiveness of current anti-abuse services by these agencies, this paper fixes the desirable model anti-abuse services to remedy the damage caused by abuse and to prevent abuse reoccurrence with taking into consideration advanced studies and examples in advanced countries: For elderly, anti-abuse services are to refer the elder abused to various legal tools and social services for the promotion of their self-protection capabilities, and to have them access to civil, criminal and administrative remedies; For children, anti-abuse services are to promote parents’ capability to raise their children and, otherwise, to liaise the abused children to the third party carer in the case their parents being unable to appropriately care for them. Applying these criteria, this paper finds that anti-abuse services lack the competence to promptly intervene into non-criminal abuse cases, and appropriate legal mechanism to liaise the abused children to care services provided for to children in need in accordance with protection plan; In the case of elder abuses, anti-abuse services are not connected to legal tools and care services for empowering the abused elderly to protect themselves, whereas similar care services are provided for in the Child Welfare Act. Based on the analysis, this paper proposes that anti-abuse services shall aim at protecting the abused rather than punishing the abuser, that the services is to intervene into non-criminal abuses, and that anti-abuse services should effectively refer the abused to appropriate legal tools for self-protection and care services. This paper’s suggestion should be supported by following studies on the reform of the Child Welfare Act and the Elder Welfare Act.