A surge in the number of child abuse cases has exposed a series of systematic failures from child welfare agencies.
On Friday, Japan’s Health Ministry announced plans to tap an additional 2,000 child welfare officers to prevent cases of child abuse and child neglect from going undetected. The Health Ministry is scrambling to implement emergency countermeasures after the tragic case of a 5-year-old girl who died after continuous physical and psychological abuse from her parents.
The harrowing case took place in Tokyo’s inner city ward of Meguro. Five-year-old Yua Funato, despite already being under the supervision of child services, died from complications of pneumonia brought on by starvation and malnourishment. The case exposed administrative and communication blunders from welfare officers in western and eastern Japan, who failed to effectively monitor the child’s physical wellbeing. Despite concerning reports from neighbors in the family’s previous home of Kagawa, west Japan, welfare officers failed to physically meet and assess Yua’s wellbeing in Tokyo three weeks before her death, after her parents refused staff entry into their apartment. With the family new to the city, staff aimed to foster a harmonious relationship with the parents — even while they, unbeknownst to welfare officers, kept Yua in a malnourished state, feeding her only soup, while also kicking and beating her.
Under police interrogation, Yua’s 26-year-old mother stated she didn’t take Yua to hospital in her final hours for fear of being found out by authorities.
While the girl had been taken under protective custody twice in a different area of Japan and her case was referred to police, her stepfather was not indicted after promising to review his actions.
