아동학대 방지를 위한 기관 간의 협력 - 일본의 아동상담소와 시정촌(市町村)을 중심으로 -

With the number of reported child abuse cases are increasing every year in Korea and Japan, social demands for strengthening public intervention in child protection are on the rise in both countries. Japan has been responding to child abuse cases inclusive of providing counseling services for children and families, by having respective prefectures establish a child counseling center, a specialized administrative agency. However, it became necessary to adopt a more professional and systematic management, as the number of reported child abuse cases and child abuse counseling have increased and as more and more child abuse cases are becoming increasingly diverse and complicated. In response, Japan amended its related laws, such as the Child Welfare Act, making the municipalities take charge of counseling children and families for child abuse prevention and providing initial response to relatively minor child abuse cases. Meanwhile, child counseling centers established themselves as the agencies supporting the municipalities from behind while responding to child abuse cases that require higher level of professional knowledge and skills. In order to ensure the efficiency of such division of work, Japanese government is strengthening the connection and cooperation between the two agencies. In contrast to Japan’s public management system of operating child counseling centers, matters related to child abuse in Korea are entrusted to the private sector and thus handled by child protective services. In order to overcome the limitations in providing effective services resulting from this situation and build a more stable child protection system in Korea, it is necessary to enhance the authority and responsibility of local self-governing bodies such as city, country, and district offices, and to establish a system for them to connect and cooperate with local child protective services. In order to support this system, it is necessary to establish appropriate conditions such as adequate placement of personnel and provision of training to strengthen expertise.