In order to strengthen measures to prevent child abuse, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has decided to establish standards to increase the number of child guidance centers that respond to it, and has put together a plan to increase the number to approximately one per 500,000 population.
Currently, 220 child guidance centers that deal with child abuse have been set up in 72 local governments nationwide, mainly in prefectures and ordinance-designated cities, but the population of the jurisdiction exceeds 1 million. In some cases, there have been reports of cases in which serious abuse could not be prevented due to insufficient response.
For this reason, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has decided to establish standards for the establishment of child guidance centers and encourage local governments to increase the number of abuses in order to prevent abuse, detect it early, and provide appropriate support.
According to the plan, the population of the jurisdiction of the child guidance center is about 500,000 or less.
In addition to the population, it also includes the fact that local governments, schools, medical institutions, etc. can cooperate within the jurisdiction, and that there is no obstacle to traffic conditions when responding to emergencies.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is aiming for enforcement again in April next year after a cabinet decision on the draft of this establishment standard is made next month.
Regarding the response to child abuse, increasing the number of child guidance centers and promoting the development and securing of human resources is also an issue, and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is considering how to support local governments.