出典: The Mainichi The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare aims to require all child consultation centers to have lawyers on duty from April 2022 in response to an increasing number of child abuse cases. 厚生労働省は、児童虐待事件の増加を受けて、2022年4月からすべての児童相談所に当番弁護士の配置を義務付ける方針だ。 The ministry hopes the move will enable lawyers to become involved in such cases on a daily basis and make it easier for the centers to exercise their legal power to protect children. 同省はこの措置により、弁護士がこのような事件に日常的に関与できるようになり、児童相談所が子どもを守るために法的権限を行使しやすくなることを期待している。 The Child Welfare Act already calls for prefectural and major municipal governments to have lawyers at consultation centers. Up until now, however, the central government allows centers to sign consulting contracts with law firms rather than having a full-time legal expert on hand, or have lawyers on duty at major central child consultation centers to provide consultation for other local centers. 児童福祉法では既に、各都道府県や主要自治体に対して児童相談所への弁護士の配置を求めている。ただし、これまでのところ、児童相談所が 常...