The "multi-child" criteria for ranking daycare admissions have been significantly relaxed, which is expected to further increase opportunities for families with two children to use daycare centers.

This is because the criteria for the "multiple children" item among the first priority for entering daycare centers will be changed from "households with three or more children, or households with two or more children who are 2 years old or in the second grade of elementary school" to "households with two or more children."

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said it will announce a partial amendment to the Implementation Rules of the Infant and Child Care Act from May 1 to May 3.

Currently, admission to daycare centers is done in order of highest score by summing up the scores of the corresponding items by admission rank.

The first priority includes basic living beneficiaries, single-parent families, second-highest class, two-earners, multicultural families, multiple children, and children of pregnant women, while the second priority includes general single-parent families, foster care children, adopted infants, and infants and toddlers with brothers or sisters enrolled in the daycare center.

The points for each ranking are 8 points for the first place and 2 points for the second place, but if you have "2 or more children" or "double income", the score is higher at 2 points.

For example, a two-income family with two children, ages 10 and 5, and a two-income family with one 22-year-old child will have the same score of 1 points under the current Enforcement Rules if the other conditions are the same, but when the revised Enforcement Rules are implemented, a two-child two-income family will be ahead of the admission order with 2 points.

This is because families with two children whose first child is over 1 years old or who is in the second grade of elementary school or above will also be multi-child.

The proposed legislation also eases the "one dietitian and two cooks" requirement for daycare centers with more than 100 infants and toddlers, allowing licensed dietitian cooks to serve as nutritionists.

It also included allowing the establishment of a comprehensive childcare support center in the building where the daycare center is installed at the discretion of the head of the local government, clarifying the regulations by specifying the pre-deposit institution for childcare services as the "Korea Social Security Information Service," and changing the expiration date to the consumption date in the regulations on feeding management.

Organizations or individuals with comments on the amendments can submit comments to the Department of Health and Human Services' Child Care Policy Division until May 2.

(Photo = Yonhap News)