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Proposals
for Child-Rearing Support Policies
(November 20, 2002)
“Society for Child-Rearing Support” of the Welfare
Policy Committee |
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The
latest demographic census conducted by the government in January
2002 revealed an advancing trend toward an aging society with
fewer children, and has prompted debates over the necessity
of strengthening and expanding countermeasures for the declining
birthrate. In Japan, child-rearing has traditionally been
considered the sole responsibility of parents, and there was no concept
of child-rearing as a joint endeavor of parents and society. Yet, from the standpoint of supporting individual
lifestyles and their choices of individuality, expansion
of the government’s role is clearly necessary.
Support measures for child-rearing are often discussed from
the perspective of providing support to parents. However,
they should also be approached as measures to promote the
healthy upbringing of small children in childcare facilities.
Furthermore, the working
styles of families must also be considered from the perspective of child-rearing support. In order to develop
effective support measures for child-rearing, a policy package
that coordinates child-rearing support with the working styles
of parents is necessary.
The “Society for Child-Rearing Support” presents
the following six proposals concerning child-rearing support
measures and policies that need to be expanded in the future. |
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| 1. |
The
significance of social efforts in child-rearing support must
first be acknowledged. At the same time, child-rearing support
policies should not only aim to provide support to parents, they should primarily be designed for the
welfare and sound development of children themselves. |
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| 2. |
Child-rearing
support is currently considered within the realm of welfare
policies, but it should integrate educational policies with
the aim to providing lifelong learning. Childcare should be
an integral part of educational services, and all children
and their parents should be guaranteed equal educational opportunity. |
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| 3. |
The
child-support allowance system should be thoroughly reviewed.
It should be further upgraded by abolishing restrictions based
on the income of the parents, extending the duration, and
increasing the amount provided. |
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| 4. |
To
create a service support system that can respond to diversifying
childcare needs, financial administration and provision of
services should be considered separately. In other words,
privatization of public facilities should be promoted to allow
better provision of services and improved efficiency in nursery
school management. |
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| 5. |
To
ensure quality childcare services, their performance should
be publicly monitored through an evaluation system that targets
all childcare facilities regardless of their authorization
status (a system in which a third party evaluates the treatment
of children and other childcare activities and discloses that
information). |
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| 6. |
New
labor policies should be created from the viewpoint of intergenerational
work-sharing. They should allow parents with small children
to take childcare leave or shorten their working hours and
enable them to secure the necessary time for child-raising.
The current employment system also needs to be rectified.
It offers only two modes of working: full-time, entailing
long working hours, and part-time, which essentially
means giving up career promotions and good working conditions.
However, more flexible working styles should be adopted so
that people can achieve a balance between family and work
without sacrificing the opportunity to further develop their
careers. |
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