In the last 10 years, there have been 4,100 accidents, including eight deaths, reported by after-school day care for minors with disabilities, according to a recent nationwide Yomiuri Shimbun survey.
Following a revision to the Child Welfare Law, a system was created in fiscal 2012 for facilities designated by local governments to accept children with developmental or intellectual disabilities between the ages of six and 18 years old.
Around 90% of the accidents were injuries, and there were about 350 cases in which children were said to have gone missing temporarily. There is no obligation for facilities to report accidents to the central government, and some local governments are urging a system for sharing and investigating such cases.
The survey, conducted from November to December last year, asked 108 local governments, all prefectural or ordinance-designated city governments with authority to designate facilities to operate the service. There were no deaths, injuries or missing persons, according to 96 of them.
The Arakawa Ward Office and three other ward offices in the capital, which had the relevant authority delegated to them from the Tokyo metropolitan government, gave valid answers. The Tokyo metropolitan government did not provide answers, saying it does not disclose such information.
There were 4,097 accidents reported by the end of October last year, according to the survey. There were 3,742 cases of bruises or other injuries, eight of which resulted in death and 347 involved people going missing temporarily, such as while on a walk.
94% of the cases found in the survey came from sometime in fiscal 2017 or later because of such factors as the expiration of the relevant data s retention period.
Three deaths were in Aichi Prefecture and one death in Miyagi, Fukushima, Fukui, Yamaguchi and Osaka prefectures, according to the survey.
In the deaths of three people who died by drowning in a reservoir or river or by choking on food, local governments imposed administrative penalties on the facilities for failing to take proper measures, or else issued guidance.
After-school day care services for minors with disabilities are operated by social welfare corporations and companies, the aim is to help them improve their life skills. There are 19,000 facilities across the country with about 302,000 users.