2021 Volume 70 Issue 4 Pages 338-351
The number of reports of child abuse has increased in recent years, while the number of deaths has held steady. Since 2000, when the Child Abuse Prevention Law was enacted, many amendments to the Child Abuse Prevention Measures, including the Child Welfare Law and the Maternal and Child Health Law, have been made. The most recent amendment to the Child Welfare Act, enacted in June 2019, prohibited corporal punishment of children, and measures to prevent child abuse are expected to be promoted in the future. This paper discusses the history of the most recent revision of the Child Welfare Act and the mechanism of child abuse prevention in the region. It also discusses the ideal way for professionals involved in child abuse prevention to collaborate, as well as multidisciplinary and multi-institutional cooperation for child abuse prevention. I will explain the history of Japan's child abuse prevention measures from the perspective of the revision of the legislation, touching on the major revisions of the law linked to child abuse prevention to date, with an emphasis on the most recent revision of the Child Welfare Act in 2019. In the future, creating a system that protects children from abuse in the entire region through the collaboration of local resources will be a pressing concern.
