Re-examining the Concept of Children in Need of Protection: Seeing Them as Subjects of Self-reliance, Not as Passive Objects of Protection

Abstract

With the social discussion on the necessity of enacting the 「Framework Act on Children」 as an opportunity, a re-examination of the legal definition of children at risk under the 「Child Welfare Act」 is necessary. Under the 「Child Welfare Act」, children who experience crises in the process of growth and development are defined as “children who are eligible for protection” and “children who are eligible for support.” In particular, the problem of using the concept of a child subject to protection as a concept of “child currently receiving protection” and “child in need of protection” has been continuously raised. As a result, there were limitations in evidence-based child protection policies due to the difficulties in understanding the actual conditions of children in blind spots in the child protective system. This paper proposed to simplify and clarify the definitions of children at risk. The basic principle of redefining children at risk is shifting the paradigm of conceptualizing children at risk from a provider-centered concept, such as “targeting” children to a child-centered classification, such as “children in need”. It is also needed to integrate the concepts of “protection” and “support” into “children in need” who need protection and support and to clearly redefine the children currently receiving in-home and out-of-home protection services as “Looked-after children”.