R&D PROJECTS

Project Overview

Care leavers maintain connections with supporters with whom they lived in childhood

According to the results of the first nationwide survey aimed to grasp the situation of children who had lived in children’s home or other facilities (released in 2021 by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare), one out of five has not received support from any facility, revealing the issues with their isolation and the need for long-term monitoring and support. The connection between many care leavers and their supporters has been interrupted. The main reasons for this situation include 1) children’s home or other facilities and foster parents do not have contact information for care leavers and 2) children in social care are forced to become independent at age 18 unless otherwise specified, although aftercare systems are not yet fully put in place.

Establish a mechanism that enables care leavers to stay connected with their supporters and realizes a seamless support system from in-care to aftercare services

This project aims to realize a society that does not create social isolation and loneliness by developing a tool that enables care leavers to stay connected as a new mechanism to fill in the gaps of the existing system. Specifically, (1) we will visualize the risks of care leavers falling into social isolation and loneliness based on fact-finding surveys and analysis on children in children’s home just before independence, children entrusted to foster parents, care leavers, supporters, and working parents and (2) we will also develop evaluation indicators (methods) to check the living situation of care leavers and visualize the factors that enable connections, the opposite of isolation. In parallel, (3) we will develop a mobile messenger app that allows care leavers and supporters to stay connected safely for coordination and communication. During the integrated implementation of (1) through (3), we will conduct proof-of-concept trials of the prototype app in two areas, urban and rural, while upgrading this app repeatedly based on monitor-based trials of the prototype app and hearings. The ultimate goal of this project is to establish a mechanism with which care leavers can consult with reliable supporters and connect to social resources when needed.

Q&A

Please tell us more about the social vision this project aims to achieve for the primary prevention of social isolation and loneliness.

The reality is that many children in social care lose support when they leave child welfare, falling into the blind spot of systems. Maintaining connections during the period shortly after the removal of support measures (transition period) is extremely important to the primary prevention of social isolation and loneliness. This project aims to prevent social isolation and loneliness after the removal of support measures by developing an app (Kizuna-Con.net) as a tool to maintain connections with a new mechanism to fill in the gaps of the existing system and stay connected with not only supporters with whom children in social care live but also supporters and professionals in the community.

What are the biggest challenges (bottlenecks) in achieving the social vision above?

There are two major challenges. The first point is that the rule for the possession of smartphones by children in social care varies depending on the children’s home. For this reason, we will carefully and respectfully confirm each institution’s policies and objectives, hold repeated discussions, and try to overcome such obstacles. The second point is about the basic policy for disclosing information obtained through connections between children in social care and outside supporters and professionals to the children’s home and entrusted foster parents. The trial is scheduled to begin after thorough discussions with attorneys and care workers in children’s home to clarify and share the basic policy before children in the institution participate in the trial as monitors.

Participating/Cooperating Institutions

• Doho University, Chukyo University, Fukushima University, Aichi Prefecture Child Welfare Facility Directors Association, Aichi Prefecture Foster Parent Association, Fukushima Prefectural Council of Child Family Support Center, Fukushima Association of Parent Training, Fukushima Prefecture Social Welfare Council Child Welfare Facility Committee, National Study Group on Child Foster Care Issues, Asperger Society Japan, and others.

Report

• FY2022 Research and Development Report (Japanese) (PDF: 1444KB)

Project Website and Others

• Connected System Kizuna-Con.net