영 케어러 지원 법제화와 정책 쟁점 - ｢가족돌봄 등 위기아동⋅청년 지원에 관한 법률｣ 제정을 중심으로 -

This study focuses on the Act on Support for Children and Youth in Crisis, including Family Care, enacted in February of 2025. The study analyzes how key issues related to the support of young carers were reformulated, discussed, and reflected in the law. Utilizing Bacchi’s WPR approach as a theoretical framework, the study critically examines how “young carers” were problematized in the law-making process, illuminating the reality of invisible and excluded young carers and proposing ways to enhance policy. The analysis revealed that young carers were narrowly defined based on age, family scope, and caregiving roles under the name of “family caregiving children and youth” and were problematized through the categorization of “youth and children in crisis” in such a way that caregiving itself was defined as a crisis and both the cause and the responsibility for solving it were transferred to the individual. Furthermore, the Youth Future Center, which was presented as the core delivery system of the policy, revealed its limitations as an integrated support system. Based on this, it was suggested that a new name for young carers, a flexible system for selecting support recipients, an age-specific approach, a change in perception of caregiving and young carers’ lives, and the establishment of a localized system for identifying and supporting young carers were needed.