This study investigates out-of-home care record-keeping practices in Japanese child welfare centers and private child welfare facilities, and also discusses the impact of such records on care leavers. In Japan, the importance of good record keeping and data management is gradually being recognised due to life story work and other situations in which care leavers require access to specific records. However, Japanʼs record retention period is less than adequate when compared to that of Australia or the UK, where there are significant numbers of care leavers. As a result, even when care leavers wish to access their records, they may not always have ready access. This study presents a case concerning the management and use of care records in a private child welfare facility, and issues related to access of records by care leavers.

The so-called forced sterilisation operation under the now-defunct Eugenic Protection Act triggered a host of lawsuits by the affected persons, and the compensation issue became a major social problem. In this case, the crucial question was how to identify the persons concerned. Eugenic protection examination committees had been set up in prefectures to decide whether forced sterilisation operations should be performed or not, which means that identification of the affected persons was possible from the related documents. However, few of the documents are now available, because most of them were discarded after the expiry of the preservation period. The circumstances are the same at Kanagawa Prefectural Archives, where I worked previously, but under the current evaluation standards for official documents, the meeting records of the legal examination committees should have been preserved. It cannot be denied that the document management system of those days was insufficient.

The public archives receive documents from governmental offices in various forms, and are responsible for the preservation, organisation, and provision of historically important documents. They also establish the evaluation rule for official documents, and strive to ensure a clear and objective evaluation. I believe that the public archives should remain true to their mission and preserve vital documents. They should facilitate the review of past administrative procedures and help victims as in this case by offering information, except personal information.