Independent living support is among the most important interventions for children and youth in alternative care. However, previous research has yet to consider independent living support based on the perspective of children and youth, although it has been pointed out that support planning reflecting their voices is critically important. In this study, semi-structured interviews with 15 care leavers was conducted to address the research question, “What kind of independent living support do youth care leavers feel they need?” An analysis equivalent to the KJ method was conducted, resulting in the identification of 11 categories and 44 concepts regarding support during the respective “In Care,” “Leaving Care,” and “After Care” phases of care. Specifically, the youth considered it necessary to have good relationships with their caregivers who serve as role models, and be provided with psychological care appropriate to each phase of care. Furthermore, the youth stressed that independent living support appropriate to each phase of care should be provided, rather than simply providing support immediately before leaving care.

The author carried out a nationwide survey related to needs assessment implementation in User Support Projects for parenting support services. The results showed the following three conclusions. (1) More than 50% of support staff and supervisors of the Basic-Type Projects were working without any assessment tools. In the Child/Maternal Health-Type Projects, a substantial 71% made use of assessment tools, with a particular focus on risk assessments. (2) Seventy-two percent of those working in the Basic-Type Projects were childcare workers, while 87% of those in the Child/Maternal Health-Type Projects were public health nurses. Only 7% of those working in the Basic-Type Projects were licensed social workers. When looking at the strengths and issues of each type of worker, public health nurses demonstrate the highest levels of competence required for needs assessments, although they need to improve their focus on prevention. Childcare workers are highly skilled at interaction but must improve in the other areas of expertise required for social work. Licensed social workers have the most expertise required for social work but have trouble implementing this expertise. (3) Results also suggested that a lack of parenting support services by cooperating organizations was preventing workers from finding value in needs assessments and in turn, contributed to their inadequate implementation.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between user (parent) satisfaction and expectations for social work interventions in community-based parenting support centers, particularly focusing on changes in psychosocial conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey of support center users was conducted, and the results suggested that both “basic activities” and “community activities,” which are significant factors in user satisfaction, declined after the spread of the coronavirus. Furthermore, due to the use of online services and high levels of parenting stress and loneliness, expectations for social work interventions through multi-professional collaboration with other institutions increased. It was also suggested that high parenting stress was associated with lower levels of satisfaction with “basic activities” and “community activities,” and that lower levels of satisfaction with “basic activities” was associated with an increased likelihood that the parent would hit their child. Additionally, it was inferred that when the level of satisfaction with “basic activities” and “community activities” decreased, expectations for social work interventions such as parenting support through multi-professional collaboration with other organizations would decrease.

In this study, we used data from a survey of children from Grade 5 and Grade 8, including their parents, to capture the reality of depression in children during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to examine factors associated with depression. The results found that 11.4% of children in Grade 5 and 24.4% of children in Grade 8 tended to have depression, and compared with boys, girls had a higher risk of depression. The results suggested that children who can understand classroom lessons, eat lunch well, sleep regularly, participate in club activities, and feel that their families are supportive of them have a lower risk of depression, while children who are frequently late, have more health concerns, have no one to talk to, are alone after school, and have no opportunity to talk about their concerns and feelings have a higher risk of depression. Furthermore, it also suggested that children are at higher risk of depression in families with poor parental mental health, and that family involvement during the primary school years plays a more important role in supporting children’s mental health.