This study analyzed the annual transition of "Family Education Seminar Report" to examine how "local community" had come to be recognized in Japan after World War II and what kind of function of local community is necessary for children's growth and development. In the beginning, the role of parents for children's growth was discussed mainly in terms of family education policy. However, a problem of "child care by alienated mothers" became a new topic of concern. The concept of "local community" was introduced to the discourse after an international seminar in 1983 at which Prof. Hiroko Hara, the leader, focused on the meaning of local community as "an association among neighbors" and observed that the result of WMS research showed that children expressed more trust in their neighbors than in their parents. This finding suggested that neighborhood women have an important role in fostering healthy growth in children in a community. It also points out the necessity of creating a local community in which free and open association is possible between children and neighbors.
