The building housing the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is pictured in Tokyo's Kasumigaseki district. (Mainichi/Kimi Takeuchi)

       TOKYO -- A proposal to tighten the reregistration process for child care workers banned for indecent behavior was presented by the health ministry at an expert panel meeting on Nov. 24. Its central purpose is to extend the time for reregistration from the current two years to 10 years for those who were handed prison sentences and more severe punishments.

       The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare aims to submit a bill to amend the Child Welfare Act in the ordinary Diet session next year.

       Child care workers must register with each prefecture after obtaining a license. Under the current law, if a child care worker is criminally punished for an indecent act, they can reregister two years after a sentence is completed.

       But the proposed revision would extend it to 10 years, the same period for a sentence of imprisonment or more severe punishments. In addition, even in cases where a fine or no criminal penalty is imposed, if individuals are found to have committed indecent acts and been punished for them, reregistration will be extended to three years after their punishment is completed.

       The ministry is also considering the creation of a database of punishment records for indecent behavior and the introduction of a system in which each prefecture would establish a new review board to decide whether or not to reregister those workers.

       At a news conference on Nov. 24, health minister Shigeyuki Goto said, "We must not have a situation where a child care worker who has committed an indecent act commits a similar act again in the nursery environment."

       (Japanese original by Takashi Kokaji, Lifestyle and Medical News Department)

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