1. Demographic Characteristics of Foreign Residents in Japan; Child Maltreatment and Language Problems in Child Protection Services
- Author
-
Yasuhide Nakamura, Kumsun Lee, and Naomi Kitano
- Subjects
Counseling ,Male ,Time Factors ,Adolescent ,Vietnamese ,Population ,Child Welfare ,Emigrants and Immigrants ,010501 environmental sciences ,Global Health ,01 natural sciences ,03 medical and health sciences ,Age Distribution ,Sex Factors ,0302 clinical medicine ,Japan ,Humans ,Child Abuse ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Child ,education ,Psychological abuse ,Child neglect ,Language ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Health Services Needs and Demand ,education.field_of_study ,Marital Status ,Child Protective Services ,Infant, Newborn ,Parturition ,Infant ,General Medicine ,language.human_language ,Physical abuse ,Child protection ,Sexual abuse ,Child, Preschool ,language ,Marital status ,Female ,Psychology ,Demography - Abstract
In this study, we examined the changes in the demographic characteristics of foreign residents in Japan (FRJ) and the current status of FRJ from a global health perspective. We also considered child maltreatment that occurred in FRJ families and language problems in child welfare. Japan's official statistics in the end of 2017 indicated that there were more than 2.56 million FRJ from over 190 countries. This population was diverse with heterogeneous characteristics, such as age structure, dwelling place, marital status, and childbirth. At the end of 2017, there were 219,982 FRJ children aged 0-14 of various nationalities, including Chinese, Brazilian, South Korean, North Korean, Filipino, Vietnamese, Peruvian, Nepalese, and Indian. In 2010, we conducted our first survey of child maltreatment in FRJ families, targeting 219 child protection centers across Japan. Between April 2007 and August 2010, 1,639 child maltreatment cases were reported from 56% of these centers. Details of 1,111 cases were collected and descriptive analyses were conducted. The male-to-female ratio was 0.88 and the median age was 8 years: however, the age distribution showed that females were significantly older than males (P < 0.01). The proportions of physical abuse, child neglect, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse were 38%, 33%, 21%, and 7%, respectively. Native language problems created numerous challenges and required a large amount of effort from child welfare practitioners. However, most solutions to identified problems were still at the beginning stage and some were found to be ineffective. More interdisciplinary and integrated researches are needed targeting child welfare of FRJ. An ethical framework for good counseling practices should be developed.
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF