[Answer]
In Japan, nurseries are
categorized as welfare facilities for children, run under the supervision of the
Health, Welfare and Labor Ministry. They are designed for children whose parents
cannot look after them during daytime due to work and other reasons. Children should
be aged between 0 and preschool age to be admitted. There are roughly two types
of nurseries:
1) Authorized nurseries meet minimum requirements stipulated by
the Child Welfare Law and are authorized by local governments. Fees can vary
depending on the parents’ income, the children’s age and the place they live.
2) Non-authorized nurseries include so-called baby hotels and day
care centers and do not necessarily have authorization from local governments.
Each facility charge differing fees for their services.
To be admitted to an authorized nursery, you need to produce valid reasons,
such as work commitments, for not being able to look after their children
during daytime. Application can be made at your city office. In some regions,
it takes some time before you can actually put your child into a nursery
if there are many children waiting to be admitted.
To put your child into an unauthorized nursery, however, you don’t
need special reasons for doing so. Application should be made at each facility.
It is advisable you check the facility before deciding which nursery you would
like to put your child into. You can visit Osaka E-care Net to look for childcare facilities.
Alternatively an authorized day
care-kindergarten facility has been recently introduced, which accepts children
other than those who lack family care. As part of the ongoing measure to
promote functional unification of kindergarten and day care center, several
such facilities have been operating in Osaka. Child-Rearing
Support Division/Child Affairs Office/ Osaka Prefecutural Government 06-6944-6984
[Answer]
If you are raising your children born between you and a Japanese husband
after divorce, you are probably staying with “Long Term” residency status. If you
have this residential status, you can apply for various public assistances as a
single parent. Among them are;
1) Child Allowance (kodomo teate) is paid to a parent raising a child aged
between 0 until the age of finishing junior high school (the first March
31 after becoming 15 years old) . Those eligible are residents in Japan
or who have completed their alien registration. However, those whose residence
status is “Short-term” or “Entertainer,” or those without a legal status
do not qualify to receive the allowance. The payment is made three times
a year by bank transfer to the account of the person raising the child.
There is no income limit for recipients.
2) Child Support Allowance (jido fuyo teate) is paid to a single mother/
father or a guardian who looks after a child while living together until
the first March 31 following the child’s 18th birthday (or in the case
of a child with a disability, up to the age of 20.) Those who meet the
following conditions are eligible for the allowances:
1. a child whose parents got divorced
2. a child whose father is dead
3. a child whose father has disabilities recognized by the
government ordinance
4. a child whose father is missing
5. a child who has been abandoned for one year or longer by
his/her father
6. a child whose father has been imprisoned for one year or longer
7. a child born out of wedlock,
Please note Child Support Allowances are not paid in the following
situations;
1. a claimant and a child are not living in Japan
2. a claimant receives public pensions, except for Old Age Welfare
Pension
3. a child is put in a child welfare facility
For more detailed information, please refer to the following
homepage:
http://www.pref.osaka.jp/kateishien/teate/jifu.html
(Japanese only)
In principle, payments for allowance are made in three
installments in April, August and December, with calculation of allowances
starting from the subsequent month after the application. Application is
accepted at the Child Support Allowance division of your city/ward office.
Other allowances and services for single parents include:
Welfare Fund Loans for Widows provides loans for 12 kinds of areas,
including business-startup, continued business operation, schooling, skill
acquisition, employment support, housing, relocation, medical/long-term care,
subsistence, marriage, training, schooling, and entrance to school.
Subsidy program for Medical Treatment for Single Parent Household
supplements medical expenses born by a single parent who is enrolled in public
health insurance. The subsidy is extended to a single parent with an income of
less than the fixed amount, who raises a child younger than 18 years old. Both
medical card and public health insurance card should be submitted at a hospital
in order to receive a subsidy for the medical expenses.
Water and sewage fees for a single parent household can be reduced
or exempt until March31 following the 18th birthday of a child (20th birthday
for a disabled child.) Application is made at the Water Bureau.
A certain amount of public housing is set aside for single parent households
to rent, but the conditions to apply for the housing, including income
level and rents are the same as those required for regular public housing.
Victims of virtually broken marriages due to domestic violence from their
husbands are sometimes eligible for the housing, provided government authorities
determine that their situation is similar to those of single-parent households,
and they can produce evidence of domestic violence, for example.
Daily Life Support Program for single-parent households dispatches
helpers to a single-parent household to help them with daily life or child care
when temporary assistance is needed due to injury and sickness or having to go
for job interviews or school as part of efforts towards self-reliance.
Welfare facilities for single-parent households provide accommodation
for a single mother with children below 18 years old, who cannot take care of
them for various reasons. Both mothers and children can stay.
More information is available at Welfare section of your city
office or at the Osaka
Mother and Child Welfare Center.