*Translated by Google translate

  Introduction  

Child consultation center staff look after children who have been taken into custody for various reasons. Child consultation center staff are the last resort for children who are emotionally anxious.

 At Ichikawa Child Consultation Center in Chiba Prefecture, 16.7% of the child guidance staff who carry out such important work have developed mental illnesses and are undergoing long-term treatment, and in particular, one in two young staff members who have just been hired are undergoing long-term treatment for mental illness (see Chiba Prefectural Assembly, Reiwa 3, General Affairs and Disaster Prevention Standing Committee (2021.12.13)). In such a working environment, can staff keep an eye on each individual child? Can they hear the SOS signals from children?

Shota Iijima is one of the young staff members who was hired as a child guidance officer at Ichikawa Child Guidance Center as a new graduate in April 2019. The duties of a child guidance officer at the temporary protection center are (1) to handle all aspects of temporary protection work, such as lifestyle guidance, learning guidance, behavioral observation, behavioral diagnosis, and emergency response for children under temporary protection, and (2) to provide guidance to children and their guardians in cooperation with child welfare officers and child psychologists.

However, Iijima developed a mental illness due to long working hours, the stress of the job itself, and the anguish of not being able to spend time with each child individually, and was forced to take a leave of absence and then resign.

Plaintiff Iijima and her legal team. They share the same desire to improve the harsh working conditions of child consultation center staff.

  What does the lawsuit mean?  

Ms. Iijima and our legal team decided to take the case to court, with the goal of having her rights restored, and also to see an environment created in which child consultation center staff in Chiba Prefecture can spend time with each individual child through improvements to their working environment and elimination of staff shortages.

This is by no means an issue limited to Ichikawa Child Consultation Center or the Chiba Child Consultation Center. Please pay attention to this issue.

▲About 60% of children taken into care by child consultation centers are temporarily taken into care due to abuse. Physical and mental care is important.

  The issues at issue in the lawsuit  

1. Whether or not the time spent on night shifts is considered working hours

Child guidance counselors and nursery teachers assigned to temporary shelters, including Ms. Iijima, were regularly ordered to work night shifts. During night shifts, they were required to patrol the facility once per hour, respond when children became ill, and respond to emergency requests for temporary shelter. It cannot be said that they were free from work, and the time spent on night shifts can be considered working hours. However, Chiba Prefecture did not consider night shifts to be working hours and did not pay them the wages corresponding to the working hours.

In this lawsuit, the claim is for unpaid wages on the premise that the time spent on night shifts corresponds to working hours. Therefore, the main point of contention in the lawsuit is whether the time spent on night shifts corresponds to working hours.

2. Whether or not Chiba Prefecture fulfilled its duty of care

When employing workers, organizations have a duty to take care to ensure that the mental and physical health of workers is not damaged by excessive mental stress or psychological burden associated with the performance of their work.

However, the reality is that child consultation centers do not have enough staff compared to the number of children, and each staff member is placed under an excessive burden.

In this lawsuit, Chiba Prefecture should have taken into consideration Ms. Iijima's physical and mental health and made appropriate personnel allocations and division of duties, but this was not done, and Ms. Iijima's health was harmed, so she is seeking damages.

Therefore, whether or not the prefecture has violated its obligations in this regard will also be an issue.

▲When Iijima returned to work, she requested to be guaranteed the required rest periods, but her request was denied.

  Plaintiff’s thoughts  

Working at the temporary shelter was very rewarding and I felt it was an important job. In my interactions with the children, there were times when I felt a great respect for them, but there were also many times when I felt that they needed care. I also felt the importance of the temporary shelter even more when I secretly listened to the children's stories and heard their dreams for the future and their current thoughts.

Due to the nature of this lawsuit, the main focus is on claiming money, but we are filing this lawsuit in the hope that it will raise awareness of temporary shelters and, in the process, accelerate efforts by Chiba Prefecture and the nation to make improvements to temporary shelters.

I hope that this page will spark interest and action among those who see it, and I will do my best to achieve this in any way I can. Thank you very much for your support.

▲The plaintiff, Ms. Iijima, has been a volunteer for telephone counseling for children since her student days.

  Use of funds  

Honoraria for cooperating doctors and expert witnesses (written opinions, testimony, etc.): 500,000 yen Litigation costs (stamps, copying fees, transportation costs, etc.): 500,000 yen Public relations costs (symposiums, recruiting plaintiffs): 500,000 yen

As the efforts of the legal team in charge are also considerable, depending on the amount of expenses, we may use them to provide allowances to the lawyers on the legal team.

  Donation Request  

This lawsuit is against the prefecture, and because society is paying close attention to child consultation centers and temporary shelters, it has been reported in the media and the lawsuit itself is attracting attention.

The trial is likely to be lengthy, and the case will require the provision of proof on numerous specialist points, including from public servant law scholars, researchers from child consultation centers, and doctors who have verified the causal relationship between overwork and the onset of depression.

Your support will be a great source of moral support for the plaintiffs and their legal team as they continue this long litigation.

We appreciate your cooperation.

<For those who wish to pay by bank transfer>
If you wish to donate by bank transfer, please send your funds to the account listed below.

Chiba Bank Chuo Branch Regular Account 4515012
Account name: Child Welfare Lawyers Group, Natsumi Kasahara

   Introduction of the legal team  

Hiroyuki Funazawa (Leader of the Law Team) Boso Law Office
Keisuke Adachi (Secretary General) Fujii & Takizawa Law Office
Takahiro Sasaki Chiba First Law Office
Hiroki Hiromatsu Chiba Chuo Law Office
Natsumi Kasahara Fujii & Takizawa Law Office
Kazuki Yoneyama Chiba Chuo Law Office
Taro Doi Chiba Chuo Law Office 

 ▲ Lawyers with expertise in labor and welfare issues came together to form a legal team.

[Photographer profile]
Miki Hasegawa
Born in 1973. After working as an architect, he became a photographer. In 2019, his photo book "Internal Notebook," which focuses on child abuse, was published in both Japanese and English by an Italian publisher. He won an award for his photo book in Peru. In Japan, he takes photographs on the social issues of children and women.