Social care
Current status
About Social care
Social care refers to a system that provides public support that can guarantee the rights of children without guardians, children whose guardians are deemed unfit to care for them, and families that have difficulty providing for them. So, specifically, what kind of support does social care provide?
The term “child welfare institution” as used in this Act means any midwifery home, infant home, maternal and child living support facility, nursery center, child center in coordination between kindergarten and nursery center, children's recreational facility, foster home, facility for children with disabilities, child developmental support center, psychological treatment facility for children, children's self-reliance support facility, and a child and family support center.
The Child Welfare Law passed in Japan in 1947 (Article 7) defines child welfare institutions that provide social foster care. In recent years, due to changes in the family environment caused by the increase in domestic violence and abuse, perspectives on social foster care have become more diverse, and since there are layers of people who need social foster care due to various factors, such as children with disabilities, families in poverty, and families complicated by abuse, several highly specialized facilities have been established to provide appropriate support for each of them.
Family care and Institutional care
We have learned that there are various types of facilities for social foster care, but it is not only facilities that provide such support.
Social foster care provided in institutions as defined in the Child Welfare Law above is called institutional foster care, but there are also “foster parents” (foster parents are considered the best option for children in social care. And when a child is deemed difficult to care for, such as a child who has been abused, the child is entrusted to a family that has undergone training and more stringent screening called a “specialized foster parent”) and “adoptive parents” who formally raise children as family members (there are two types of adoption: “regular adoption” and “special adoption.”) There are two types of adoption: regular adoption and special adoption. (In the case of a regular adoption, the child is described as an adopted child in the family register and can be removed from the register, but in the case of a special adoption, the child is treated the same as a biological child). is called family foster care because it is an environment that is close to the original family. As the Child Welfare Law states, “It is necessary to promote foster care in an environment closer to the family so that the child is nurtured in good mental and physical health” the best foster environment for a child is the “original family” and the best option is to provide the child with an environment closer to the original family, which is “family foster care.” In recent years, there has been a movement to incorporate a family-like environment into institutional care, and an increasing number of children's homes are providing family-like care, where care is provided in small groups and dispersed throughout the community to achieve family-like care within the facility.
Issues in Social care
Despite the fact that “home care” is said to be the best, 80% of children are currently being cared for in institutions. Why is institutional foster care the main method for children?
First of all, the burden on child consultation centers in social foster care is huge. The Child Consultation Center responds to notices of suspected abuse and consultations sent in for reasons such as financial problems that make it difficult to care for children at home, and the consultation center investigates and then decides whether or not protection is necessary. Accordingly, the consultation center provides guidance to the parents, provides temporary protection for the child, and collaborates with other institutions to determine whether “institutional care” is necessary or whether “home care” such as foster care is possible. Even before social foster care is provided, the Center conducts investigations to determine whether the institutional environment is the best for the child, and in the foster care system, it inspects whether the family that has applied is suitable to become a foster parent and provides the training necessary to become a foster parent. All of these tasks are managed by the Child Consultation Center, and this, combined with the problem of a shortage of staff at the consultation center, makes it difficult for a single agency to adequately handle these tasks.
And to begin with, Japan tends to have a low number of applicants for foster care and adoption, which is necessary for “home care”. Awareness of the foster care and adoption systems among the Japanese public is low, and the number of applicants is correspondingly low. In addition, because of the strong parental authority of biological parents in Japan, children cannot use the foster care system unless their biological parents give their permission. This is also the case for children who have been abused by their biological parents, which is also the reason why a large percentage of children are in institutional care.
Improvements
Improving the Burden on Child Consultation Centers in Social Care
In other developed countries, not only public institutions such as consultation centers but also private institutions cooperate in providing services such as foster care. Since there are few staff members in the private sector in Japan who can provide specialized services, there is a need to train staff members in the private sector in addition to expanding the number of staff members in the child consultation centers. In recent years, Japan has begun to provide support for the foster parent system to municipalities.
Improving the Adoption and Foster Care System
In countries with high rates of foster care and other programs, national budgets for social care tend to be higher than in Japan. In Japan, it is said that the cost allocated to social foster care is 0.02% of GDP, which is 1/130th of that in the U.S. and Canada. Improvement will require an increase in the government's budget for social foster care, as well as a correct understanding and awareness of the foster care system. In addition, in Japan, families who come to live with their children through the special adoption system are not adequately supported, even though the foster care system and other programs are guaranteed tens of thousands of yen per month in assistance. Since special adoption is also a form of social care, and society has an obligation to nurture children, it is necessary for the children's sake that support be provided to adoptive families.
