There have been many cases in which children have been taken into protective custody because of abuse or poverty and have been raised in protection and other facilities, only to become isolated or suffer economic hardship after becoming independent. There is an urgent need to expand the support system for young people who have no family to rely on.
About 45,000 children nationwide are living apart from their parents in orphanages and other facilities, or with foster families. Under the Child Welfare Law, in principle, they are required to become independent at the age of 18, and many of them leave these facilities or foster parents when they advance to higher education or take employment.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will soon conduct a fact-finding survey on people aged 15 or older who have left their facilities or foster families in the past five years. The questions in the survey include whether they have changed jobs or dropped out of school, what kind of support they received before or after becoming independent and what problems they have in their current lives.
In recent years, the importance of supporting the independence of people from children's orphanages or other facilities has been pointed out. However, this is the first time that the ministry will extensively listen to opinions of such people themselves. The survey is also significant in identifying the specific needs for assistance.
The university entrance success rate for students from these facilities is 14%, much lower than the more than 50% for high school graduates as a whole. Even if they go on to university, they have no choice but to hold multiple part-time jobs to make a living, and not a few drop out of university when they fall sick. There are also many cases in which they repeatedly change jobs in a short period after getting a job.
In addition to money problems, this is apparently because there are no adults around them whom they can rely on in times of trouble, which makes it easy for them to feel isolated. Some of them are deeply traumatized by abuse and cannot manage to build interpersonal relations.
It is hoped that the ministry, through the survey, will listen carefully to what kind of difficulties they are facing and use the results to help improve their support.
The welfare ministry has set up a system in which officials in charge of support for self-reliance are assigned to facilities, and another system in which rents and living expenses are loaned to young people who have left these facilities. If there is a strong need for support, residents of such facilities can remain in them until age 22.
However, the situation of the utilization and implementation of the systems varies among municipalities. It is necessary to make the systems widely known so that support can reach the people who really need it.
The Saitama prefectural government rents private apartments and offers them at low prices to those who go on to higher education after leaving the facilities, and social welfare workers provide advice. It set up a place where people who became independent after leaving these facilities can casually drop by, eat together and take part in events to learn business manners.
Such advanced examples should be shared among local governments. In cooperation with nonprofit organizations and other entities, it is vital to create as many places as possible that provide moral support and where they can feel at home.
It is also important to teach them the basics of independent living, such as how to manage money and cook for themselves, while they are at the facilities. Setting up a place to think about their future, such as employment and career paths, will also be an important part of training before they set out for the real world.
-- The original Japanese article appeared in The Yomiuri Shimbun on Nov. 4, 2020.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
