Ⅴ. Family Environment and Alternative Care for Children (Articles 5, 9~11, 18 (1) and (2), 19~21, 25, 27 (4) and 39) 1. Alternative care for children 1) Current situation 44. The Committee on the Rights of the Child, in the course of reviewing the 2nd Report, recommended that the Korean Government should place the families headed by children with no adult guardians in the care of foster families and expand the number of group homes and the foster care system by providing greater financial support to foster families and increasing the counseling and support mechanisms for foster families. 45. As was recommended by the Committee, some of the child-headed families have been replaced by foster families, increasing the number of the children in foster homes, although by a small margin. However, this comes from the rise in the number of the former children heads who were sent to their grandparents as their kinship care givers. Another problem here is that the children themselves must care for their grandparents. In this light, it is advisable to promote foster care by their relatives or other families who are able to provide substantial care and protection to those children. The reality is, however, that the number of the children living with the caregiving relatives or other foster families has decreased since 2007. Table 1. The number of children in foster homes, by year Year Total 2006 2007 2008 2009 14,465 16,200 16,454 16,608 Grandparents' care homes 9,062 10,112 10,709 10,947 Relative care homes 4,160 4,850 4,519 4,503 Non-relative foster care homes 1,243 1,238 1,226 1,158 * Source: Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2010 2) Questions 46. What measures does the Government undertake to promote and support ordinary (non-relative) foster care homes as an alternative care system? - 12 -