New Admission Standards
From “Kazenoko Letter” No.423 - April 2013
| Last winter was very cold, but we are hearing that flowering time has
come earlier than usual. April is when the cherry blossom blooms, and all
yearly activities also start. This year we’ll have 41 new children, mostly
infants. They are the first ones since Osaka City set up the new admission standards. The admission standards which had been continued for years were revised wholly at the direction of the new mayor. In the new system, everything is calculated through a points system and people with higher points are selected. The standards rely solely on specific and detailed objectivity, so mothers’ child-raising difficulties and problems will be irrelevant. For example, in cases where siblings go to different daycare centers, it is very hard for their mother to pick them up and drop them off at separate daycare centers. Requests to consider the same daycare center for all children is ranked very low. Another example is where a mother whose child with disabilities goes to a specialized institution. It is difficult for her to travel with his younger sibling, so she wants the younger one to go to a daycare center. However, this is also ranked low, and cannot be arranged. It is important to deal with the situation with a perspective of welfare, because daycare centers are essentially welfare centers for children. The conventional admission standards were set up to take into account the larger context. Several people had discussions in the city office and processed applications in this way. It is very important for welfare to have this broad vision. Human suffering can’t be measured with a points system. The role of a welfare specialist is to understand the person’s situation and to give consideration to this. It is necessary to have the flexibility to grasp a family situation well, especially between the mother and the child, when the admission standards are determined. Next, guardians are requested to submit their firs to sixth choices when they apply for daycare centers this year. Until now, they had submitted their first to third choices, and now, they have to include distant daycare centers that are within the district. This is an easygoing standpoint that ignores lifestyles and makes it sound like wherever they can get will have to do. It is very disappointing and creates many uncertainties for our future. |
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