EXCLUSIVE: Japan to Improve Info Sharing among Child Centers

June 21, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's welfare ministry will improve the information-sharing system among child consultation centers to strengthen measures to prevent child abuse, informed sources have told Jiji Press.

The ministry plans to switch to using an email mailing list that includes all consultation centers to send information on children and their parents in need of assistance who have been lost track of after changes of abode. At present, such information is sent by fax.

The ministry believes that the change would lead to a more accurate and faster sharing of information, the sources said.

The ministry came up with the idea after the death of a five-year-old girl in March in a high-profile case of child abuse by her parents in Tokyo's Meguro Ward.

Critics point to the possibility of inadequate information sharing between the child consultation center in the area where the family previously lived and the center in the Tokyo area to which the family moved.

It is not unusual for abusive parents to move to a different location to distance themselves from child consultation centers. This makes it important for the centers to share information speedily.

As the current method of faxing documents takes time, the ministry hopes to switch to the email system to ensure that information on families in need of assistance reach relevant child consultation centers swiftly after their changes of residence.

For the new system, the ministry plans to utilize the Local Government Wide Area Network exclusively for municipalities because personal information will be handled. Jiji Press