May 5, 2022 at 14:57 JST
Growing insights into the need to provide greater support for young carers--those who look after their parents, younger siblings and others in need of special care on a daily basis--is drawing policy responses from the central government and local administrations.
This challenge requires broad public awareness of the importance of pinpointing children who are struggling with the burden of caring for others and ensuring they receive the backing they need.
In April, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare published the results of a survey of sixth-graders and third-year university students to get a better grasp of the situation.
Slightly more than 6 percent of the respondents said they were taking care of family members. The figure was roughly the same as the ratio of junior and senior high school students in a similar survey last year. The latest findings also turned up the same challenges as those identified in a 2021 survey, such as difficulties in avoiding absence from school or turning up late for classes.
Myriad circumstances can require young people to take care of other family members or help with the family business. But these children should not be allowed to shoulder so much of a burden as to hamper their development or learning.
The problem of young carers has yet to be widely recognized. In fact, many youngsters in that situation don’t see themselves as such.
It is not easy to grasp what should be seen as an excessive burden in such cases. Policymakers should act swiftly to grasp the realities of the challenges such young people face to prevent them from becoming isolated.
The welfare ministry’s latest survey found that numerous elementary school pupils who look after family members crave assistance with their studies and help with problems they are facing. Many university students polled sought financial support to pay for tuition as well as career and employment counseling. These findings underscore the need to provide young carers with support tailored to their different, age-specific needs.
To grasp the specific needs of young carers, we urge people around them need to pay close attention to signs of issues that should be addressed.
The Kobe municipal government became the first local administration in Japan to start offering a counseling service for young carers, including those in their 20s. The city is working hard to inform schools and welfare facilities of the service and raise awareness of the problem.
Many of the requests for advice the city received through this counseling service last fiscal year were cases where these organizations provided information.
Some local governments are working on programs to make it easier for children to seek support. The Tottori prefectural government, for instance, is considering a new counseling service through social media to be operated by a private-sector organization that would supplement the existing service provided by the prefecture’s child consulting centers.
The welfare ministry has budgeted for state subsidies to support such efforts by local governments for this fiscal year. Local administrations should take advantage of the program to step up their efforts to offer aid to struggling young carers.
A bill to revise the child welfare law being considered by the Diet is aimed at introducing a new welfare program to help families with young children through visiting cleaning and cooking services. The program could be used to reduce the burden borne by young carers. It would allow schools and welfare facilities to expand their cooperation to tackle the problem through the use of the existing nursing care insurance program and welfare services.
Improving the wellbeing of young carers requires broad recognition of the problem as a challenge for society as a whole and an effective multi-layered support system.
--The Asahi Shimbun, May 5
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