Child abuse is on the rise in Japan. Child consultation centers nationwide were contacted in a record 42,662 cases of child abuse in fiscal 2008, 2,023 more cases than in fiscal 2007, which saw the caseload top 40,000 for the first time. The number has been rising for 18 straight years — since statistics were first taken in 1990.

The health and welfare ministry thinks that the revised Child Abuse Prevention Law, which went into effect in April 2008, has helped to make more people aware of child abuse and more willing to report suspicions to child consultation centers. But this should not deflect attention from the fact that child abuse is increasing while measures to prevent it have been lagging.

The main revision to the law is aimed at strengthening the legal authority of child consultation center workers. If people, especially parents, suspected of child abuse refuse to appear before such a center, workers at the center, with court permission and police cooperation, can "forcibly enter" a residence, such as by breaking a door lock, to protect a child.

In fiscal 2008, there were only two incidents of forcible entry. In each case, a child failed to come to school and the parents would not cooperate in the investigation by a child consultation center. Center workers apparently hesitate to use their legal authority as a final recourse.

The backgrounds and reasons for child abuse are complex. Such factors as stress from child rearing, dissatisfaction with the spouse or partner, and hatred toward a child from an earlier marriage can lead to child abuse/neglect. What some parents consider discipline at home may actually be an act of child abuse. A parent must be able to look at a disciplinary act taken toward his or her children in an objective manner.

It is important to remember that child abuse/neglect can happen anywhere, anytime. When one hears of a child battered or notices a child behaving strangely, one should not hesitate to notify a school teacher, the police or a child consultation center. One also needs to muster the courage to help not only the children but also the parents.