2021, Seoul Welfare Foundation hosted an international online forum titled “2021 International Social Welfare Forum”.
November 12, 2021

November 12, 2021 On November 12th, 2021, Seoul Welfare Foundation hosted an international online forum titled “2021 International Social Welfare Forum”. We invited Hong-Jae Park from Western Sydney University, Shih-Mei Tai from Ming-Cheon University, In-Joo Song from Seoul Welfare Foundation to participate as presenters. The Forum presented social isolation, Godoksa(lonely deaths), and welfare policies of Australia, Taiwan, and Korea. Over one hundred audiences have watched the online forum through the youtube channel, and the forum was rerun over one thousand times up by Dec. 1st. The forum drew attention from social workers, civil servants, citizens, and students majoring in social work for information on the innovative approaches to social isolation issues and their welfare policies from the three countries. The first presenter, professor Hong-Jae Park from Western Sydney University presented on loneliness and social isolation of Australian adults providing very beneficial information to learn about current Australian social work practices protecting their citizens to Korean audiences. He has cooperated with us by contributing to "Bokji-issue-today,” our monthly magazine issuing articles of welfare policies, social issues, social work practices since last year. Professor Shih-Mei Tai, the second presenter, talked about Taiwan's issues and welfare programs for middle-aged and older adults' loneliness and social isolation. She was a primary organizer of the 2020 International Conference on Forensic Social Work, titled "2020 Make Visible in Action," hosted by Ming-Cheon University. Eun-ha Jeong, one of our leading researchers, gave a speech at the conference two years ago. The University has exchanged and cooperated with Seoul Welfare Foundation since 2019 for social welfare research. Dr. In-Joo Song, a leading researcher of the Seoul Welfare Foundation, was the last presenter. Her remarkable studies on social isolation and 'Godoksa' have drawn tremendous attention from the government, scholars, and policymakers last few years. She has widely spread the term, 'Godoksa' in Korean society through her studies on lonely deaths of middle-aged and older adults. This international forum is an annual event of the Seoul Welfare Foundation rebooted to communicate and cooperate with the global social work field.