Whenever a fatal child abuse case makes headlines, child consultation centers often come under fire for failing to take steps to prevent the death.

The centers, however, are having increasing difficulty handling the surging number of calls by people alerting them to suspected child abuse.

And when they are told in advance, a shortage of staff means child welfare officials are sometimes unable to focus on serious cases that need immediate help, experts say.

Here are questions and answers on the expanding role of child consultation centers and recent moves by the government to address growing caseloads:

What are child consultation centers?

They are governmental institutions that assist in dealing with issues faced by families with children aged under 18.

Initially set up in 1948 during the postwar turmoil to protect war orphans, today the centers deal with a variety of child welfare issues, including abuse, health problems, physical and intellectual disabilities, and truancy.

When deemed necessary, center staff carry out investigations and can take children into temporary protective custody. The centers can obtain court permission to break in if parents refuse them entry into a home.

Under the child welfare law, each prefecture and ordinance-designated major city must have at least one child consultation center. As of April 1 last year, there were 208 centers nationwide.

How many child abuse cases have the centers handled?

The number has increased every year since the welfare ministry started counting in fiscal 1990.

In fiscal 2014, there were a record 88,931 cases, up 20.5 percent from 73,802 in fiscal 2013, according to the ministry. Compared to the 11,631 cases in 1999, the number surged by more than sevenfold in 15 years.

Meanwhile, the number of child welfare caseworkers increased only 2.3-fold over 15 years, from 1,230 in 1999 to 2,829 in 2014.

In fiscal 2013, 69 children died at the hands of abusive parents, including 33 cases where parents killed their children before killing themselves, ministry data showed. Among the victims, 16, or 44.4 percent, were aged under 1.

Welfare center officials who handled the fatal cases each took on an average of 109 cases in fiscal 2013, including 65 cases of child abuse.

What is behind the sharp increase in cases?

The surge is attributed to various factors, including an expanding definition of child abuse and greater awareness by people who suspect abuse is occurring and notify officials after seeing news reports of fatal abuse cases, experts say.

Also, with the enactment of the child abuse prevention law in 2000, people are obliged to alert authorities when they suspect children are being abused.

Following a series of revisions to the law and ministry guidelines, the definition of child abuse that consultation centers must deal with include physical and sexual abuse, neglect as well as psychological abuse, including the effect on children of witnessing domestic violence or siblings being abused.

Cases may rise after the welfare ministry set up a new 24-hour phone line last July to take calls from victims as well as alerts to suspected abuse cases.

What actions do the centers take if they are alerted to suspected child abuse?

Welfare officials are required to call families within 48 hours after receiving a report. This may mean officials have to give up holidays until they are able to meet a family face to face. After the meeting, they assess what level of support a family needs.

If deemed necessary, children will be separated from parents and placed in the centers' temporary shelters. During that time, officials counsel the parents to help them prepare to reunite with their children and rebuild relations.

While some children eventually return home, others enter child welfare facilities or live with foster families.

What measures are being taken to improve the situation?

The government plans to beef up the authority and function of the child consultation centers as well as increase their numbers by amending the child welfare law and the child abuse prevention law.

Under the bill, submitted to the current Diet session last month, the procedures for inspecting households where children are allegedly being abused will be simplified.

The amendments will also allow the 23 wards in Tokyo to set up their own child consultation centers. Under the current law, only prefectural governments and major cities can set up the centers.

Also, centers will be able to focus more on urgent cases, and ask local governments to handle less serious situations.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration hopes to get the bill passed by the June 1 end of the current Diet session, aiming for the law to take effect in fiscal 2017.