Abusive parents (Child abuse in Japan)

[joandesu]

It's good news that the gov't. revised guidelines to toughen measures against child abuse.


01/19/2007

The Asahi Shimbun


Following a string of failures to save children from their abusive parents, child consultation centers will confirm a child's safety within 48 hours after they receive reports of suspected abuse, sources said.

A number of children have recently been killed by their parents through neglect or physical abuse even though child consultation centers had been involved in those cases, the sources said.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare will introduce other measures, including giving authorities the power to remove the siblings of an abused child from their home and place them into protective custody, the sources said.

The ministry is scheduled to submit draft revisions of the operational guidelines for child consultation centers to its expert panel on Friday, the sources said. Prefectural governors, who oversee child consultation centers, will be notified of the new guidelines.

The ministry moved to toughen the guidelines and take more effective measures following the starvation death of a 3-year-old boy in Nagaokakyo, Kyoto Prefecture, in October 2006.

Authorities had received reports of possible abuse by the boy's father and his common-law wife, but failed to take immediate action.

According to the sources, the revised guidelines will stipulate, "It is desirable for child consultation centers to confirm the safety of children within 48 hours after they receive reports on abuse."

Until now, there have been no concrete instructions. Handbooks on child abuse merely say that those centers should make efforts to immediately confirm the children's safety.

Consultation centers will also hold emergency meetings to handle all reports of abuse in which the child can be identified.

In some cases, consultation centers only phoned the guardians of children suspected of being abused. But the new guidelines will call on workers to visually check on the children.

To prevent the spread of abuse in a household, authorities will consider such measures as monitoring the home for an extended period and taking other children in the home into protective custody on a temporary basis.

In addition, local councils set up to handle at-risk children will compile ledgers to monitor the progress of countermeasures against child abuse. They will confirm the safety of the children once every three months or so, the sources said.

The councils comprise officials from child consultation centers, municipal governments, police departments, nursery schools and other authorities.

Officials of the ruling coalition are also discussing a new system that would enable prefectural governors to order suspected abusive guardians to appear for questioning. If they refuse, police and child consultation centers would be allowed to forcibly inspect their homes, according to government sources.

Coalition lawmakers intend to submit a bill to revise the Child Abuse Prevention Law to establish the new system, the sources said.(IHT/Asahi: January 19,2007)

[tigi]

all the measurements for preventing child abuse are good.