We learned that "children's shelters" nationwide operated by NPOs and other organizations for the purpose of urgently protecting children who are unable to live at home due to abuse are closing or suspending their activities one after another.
The challenge is how to support these facilities, which are the last resort to protect children who have no place to stay.
A "child shelter" is a facility based on the Child Welfare Act that protects children in their late teens who are unable to live at home due to abuse and have no place to stay for a short period of time.
As such facilities, there are temporary shelters of child guidance centers, but in principle, there are areas where it is difficult to accept children up to 10 years old due to the capacity.
For this reason, "children's shelters," which are commissioned by child guidance centers and provide temporary protection for children in their late teens, have become an important option.
In most cases, NPOs and social welfare corporations, whose members are lawyers, are licensed by local governments to operate the National Network of Children's Shelters, which compiles the status of facilities nationwide, and last fiscal year it was confirmed that it was operated in 17 prefectures.
NHK conducted interviews and found that from last year to this year, facilities in Niigata and Miyazaki were closed,
and
activities in Okayama were temporarily suspended and children were suspended.
In addition, some facilities that had already closed or suspended activities several years ago sought to reopen, but were unable to do so due to difficulties in securing staff.
In some cases, children who do not have a place to stay gather in downtown areas of urban areas and get involved in crime and trouble, and the national and local governments are considering countermeasures, but how to support facilities such as children's shelters, which are the last resort to protect children, is also an issue.