130 Little Cries～Study 4. Responses to Fatalities after They Occurred: How We Should Think about Intants’ Deaths (3)～
3. Responses of Government to Fatalities
Our investigations found that the responses of government agencies to infant fatalities at childcare facilities were disappointingly poor. In a nutshell, the situation can be described as one in which the spirit of the Child Welfare Law is totally ignored.
Government agencies’ responses to infant fatalities were as follows:
(1) They ignored the fatalities or feigned ignorance.
(2) Government officials perfunctorily attended funerals and offered obituary gifts.
(3) When the affected parties lodged complaints, government agencies maintained that they were not legally liable. In some cases they paid small amounts of sympathy money while qualifying that the government was not faulty or liable in any way.
The responses of government agencies were consistent in that they reflected the attitude of self-protection–a desire to sweep the problems under the carpet and avoid turning them into a public issue.
The proper response by public agencies–one of investigating into the causes of fatalities and taking measures to avoid their recurrences–was never found with the sole exception of the response made by the municipal day-care center of Mitaka City.
In the “Study” section of the Investigative Report on Infant Fatalities Cases (Fatality Case 55) which we submitted to court four and a half years ago, we stated:
In the “Kindergartens and Nurseries” section of the classified telephone directory, we find printed in large types the names of a variety of childcare businesses such as “baby rooms,” “baby halls,” and “nursery rooms.” These terms suggest that there is a flood of private nurseries for infants which are not subjected to supervision by any public agencies. As long as we allow these “childcare” businesses to operate as they please in pursuit of maximum profit, the rights of many more infants to grow up will continue to be violated and their lives will continue to be visited upon by Death.
It has been four and a half years since we wrote the report, and unfortunately our predictions came true. As the term “baby hotel” has become a household word, the number of infant fatalities has also kept rising.
The situation deteriorated to the point that the conditions of infants in some unwholesome nurseries were exposed in a TBS Teleport 6 documentary and became a social issue.
In the report we submitted to court, we further stated:
It has been four and a half years since we wrote the report, and unfortunately our predictions came true. As the term “baby hotel” has become a household word, the number of infant fatalities has also kept rising.
The situation deteriorated to the point that the conditions of infants in some unwholesome nurseries were exposed in a TBS Teleport 6 documentary and became a social issue.
In the report we submitted to court, we further stated:
We believe that only the government childcare agencies, which are responsible for today’s sad situation, can correct it. In order to make amends for the many little lives that were lost, and to safeguard the wholesome growth of a large number of infants who constitute the rising generation, these agencies should resolutely discharge their obligations to society.
Even today, we would like to voice exactly the same sentiment because of the following facts.
When the problem of baby hotels became a social issue, the Ministry of Health and Welfare was compelled to investigate into non-licensed childcare facilities across the country. It then drafted a bill for controlling baby hotels.
We believe, however, that the objective of such a bill–protecting infants who cannot speak up for their own interests–could be easily accomplished by individual front-line public agencies if they only had warm consideration for children.
The absence of the spirit embodied in the Child Welfare Law in front-line public agencies remained unchanged even after the conditions of the childcare system became a public issue and the ineptitude of government agencies was denounced publicly.
In the midst of public criticism of baby hotels, Ishii Baby Room which we reported in Fatality Case 4 (where two children had died) opened under a new name, Kazenoko Day Nursery.
When we accompanied the mother of Yumi-chan who had died in the nursery to Mitaka City Hall to discuss the problem, the officials there had no knowledge of the reopening of the nursery.
The Childcare Section of Mitaka City took no action on the matter which we brought to its attention. When Kazenoko Day Nursery subsequently applied for a subsidy, the section exercised no independent judgment and merely stated that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government was inclined not to accept applications for subsidies.
We pointed out to the head of the Childcare Section of Mitaka City that the nursery had a record of causing the death of two infants in identical manners–dying on a caregiver’s lap from suffocation with baby hood obstructing the airway, and that the tragedy could very well be repeated if no action is taken. To this urging, the section head had nothing to say except that the regulation of baby hotels was under the jurisdiction of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and that the city of Mitaka had no authority to provide administrative guidance to Kazenoko Day Nursery.
As the above case illustrates, front-line government offices responsible for childcare programs are taking no effective measures even when the situation has deteriorated to such a point that the Ministry of Health and Welfare finds it necessary to investigate into non-licensed day nurseries across the country and draft a baby hotel control bill.
On the contrary, the sad reality is that the government is moving in a wrong direction as it proposes the raising of nursery fees as part of the policy of reducing its welfare programs under the pretext of fiscal exigencies.
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