The Diet enacted a revised children's welfare law Friday that aims to upgrade the child-counseling system and bolster local-level efforts to address the growing problems of child abuse and juvenile delinquency.
The revised Child Welfare Law is designed to remove some of the burden shouldered by child consultation centers by creating information desks that will offer child consultation services on abuse, juvenile delinquency and child-rearing in municipalities.
Under this setup, child consultation centers will provide logistic support by dealing with more serious cases.
The amended law, which cleared the plenary session of the House of Councilors, will take effect April 1.
The law will also tap into community efforts by establishing a council for every municipality that will discuss measures aimed at curbing child abuse.