News that an expert panel at the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has begun discussions on beefing up efforts to prevent of child abuse comes at a time when it has been revealed that the number of such cases reported to relevant authorities across the country hit a record high in fiscal 2014.

The panel should come up with effective steps to strengthen the functions of child consultation centers nationwide, which play important roles in enhancing children's welfare, including providing shelters for abused kids, offering advice and finding appropriate facilities that can care for children who face various problems. At the same time, the government needs to look into the basic issue of how to eliminate the potential seeds of child abuse, such as poverty and isolation of families.

According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, the 208 child consultation centers across Japan handled 88,931 cases of child abuse in fiscal 2014, a 20.5 percent increase from the previous year and the most since officials began compiling comparative data in 1990. The figure is 7.6 times the corresponding number 15 years earlier. If the centers are alerted to suspected child abuse, they dispatch juvenile welfare officers with expertise in psychology and pedagogy to the home of the abused kids within 48 hours to confirm their safety and talk to the parents. The centers may provide temporary shelters to the children or take measures to get other facilities to protect them.