Child fatally assaulted by father was earlier released from custody despite his sexual abuse of her

This kind of father should stay inside the jail forever!!!

Wow, just wow.

Japan has a loooooong way to go before it can be recognized as ( truly consider itself) a free-world "democracy' when the right of a child *(a child's inherent entitlement ,*in fact ) to be SAFE in her/his own home is not aggressively upheld by the police, health & welfare and justice systems.

Do you really believe that cases like this happen only in Japan?

Good old Japan! Lip service laws and do nothing until there's a corpse.

I take it you do not read US or UK papers.  

There are many cases of children being mentally or physically abused and taking their lives 

Unfortunately, that is also true of the US and the UK.

If this were to happen in other developed countries, the whole department or organization would be under investigation.

Not necessarily. Both the US and the UK have had a number of recent cases where abuse went on for years without the authorities intervening.

The media pays little to no attention to a case like this even though there was a death of a child, child abuse (sexual, physical and mental) and PROOF AND he is released!

This claim is totally false. Child abuse cases like this get intensive coverage in Japan. The “wide shows” in particular take up cases like this in microscopic detail.

That such cases occur elsewhere does not, of course, excuse failings in Japan but when there is a failure of child protection services in the US or UK, that is not taken as a reflection on the whole country or something that reflects the character of all Americans or all Brits.

Officials of local governments fail to maintain their responsibility, what the reason we are paying them from our tax??? Officials of local governments also should be indicted on a charge of assisting in assault.

There are many cases of children being mentally or physically abused and taking their lives here etc.

Pierce the veil of superficial politeness and notice that physical objects and the consumer society are placed on a high pedestal.

disgusting RIP little angel

Sad to say this perp will not receive a long sentence. He should spend the rest of his days behind bars.

Heartrending.

Were the officials simply callously unconcerned? Or were they bound by prevailing laws and attitudes? Or both?

Poor little girl. May someone in heaven shower her with love, care and affection now.

The sheer incompetence of child protective services here is staggering.

Good old Japan! Lip service laws and do nothing until there's a corpse. Poor little girl. RIP. How many times do we have to read about this happening before police do something BEFORE someone is killed? The social welfare services here are a joke. "Oh, well, the dad/mom said they didn't do it... and, well, we really don't want to take care of the kid, so let's send him/her home to her loving parents?"

@Disill - "welfare" = physical and mental health and happiness, especially of a person

So job #1 of the "welfare" agency, make sure the kids do not get harmed are worse, even in their own family. They do have psychologists. They do have the authority to have the authorities intervene if there is a threat (as anybody would have). And why bring up the yaks?

"The case has revealed an apparent lack of coordination among authorities on the situation and questionable responses."

Ho dear not again!, when are these simple mistakes going to stop? it was not so long ago that a little girl died/commited suicide due to local schools and local welfare officers not standing unto her aggressive farther, where are the fail safe Guards for children in Japan? this is bungling incompetence, and a lack of organisation and cooperation between authority bodies. come one guys its pretty simple to organise, stop failing children like this.

It's disappointing to see so many posts pointing fingers at the welfare agency. They are only mediators. They are not the police, psychiatrists or yakuza. Nor are they psychics that can predict the future. They have very limited power as to what they can do. Their main goal is to reunite the kids back with their parents. They know the foster care structure in Japan is a flipping joke and does the kids more harm than good. There are very few families that will take in foster kids and most kids end up in hostels and orphanages. This can destroy little kids. Little kids have an unconditional love and admiration for their parents. They do not understand why their parents are so mean to them. They also cannot understand why they can't live with their parents. This is why the child welfare agencies are eager to put kids back into their homes. The only thing I do agree with is, these monsters deserve to rot in hell for what they did to this poor little girl.

Absolutely disgusting, I hope some heads will roll big time on this.

RIP little Mia, hope this leads to serious and much needed change in the system.

@Ship - If I remember from a previous article, the father went to the school or the center and was belligerently demanding to see what she wrote. Whatever official there acquiesced probably because he/she felt threatened or just wanted to get rid of the guy.

a local education board provided a copy of Mia's complaint to her father.

This is the line that really bothers me. I'm struggling to think of a scenario in which providing a potential abuser with evidence that their victim is telling on them is a good idea.

Poor little girl didn't stand a chance, with her "parents" and the "child welfare" center as twisted as they are.

And just when you'd think this story couldn't get any worse. Wonder why it took so long for this new info to be released.

This is literally disgusting, he deserves a death penalty.

Officials at local governments failed to talk to each other. Getting people to communicate with each other over here is a seriousl challenge. The instinct to not bother is really strong. The amount of ki o tsukai and keigo necessary for a single telephone call between agencies is way too over the top. I know the ‘WA’ or ‘social harmony’ may be built around this practice of keeping to yourself but there are some major downsides.

Personally think if there was just a bit more small talk and casual banter in the workplace it wouldn’t be such a big deal to pick up the phone. But with many offices you could still cut the tension in the silent air with a knife!

Poor wee thing. A whole group of people who dropped the ball in this latest case will be doing silent sideways glances and feeling absolutely terrible right now. Communicate!

Death penalty.

Child welfare is a very prickly road. The mandate of all child welfare agencies around the world is to return children to their parents after mediation. This is because it is best for the child to grow up with their parents. One should not point blame at the actions of child welfare agencies. It is the parents’ fault, not the fault of the agencies. My sister has been a foster care parent for many years. Nearly all of her foster kids were returned to their parents after mediation. Most of them have had a happy return although, there are a few who have fallen back into the abusive environment they were rescued from. One of the teenage girls who was returned to her parents killed her self a week after her return. My sister is now receiving treatment for PTSD because of it. Child welfare agencies have a very difficult task and whether you believe it or not, it is the welfare of the child that is their main priority.

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Japan has a loooooong way to go before it can be recognized as ( truly consider itself) a free-world "democracy' when the right of a child *(a child's inherent entitlement ,***in fact ) to be SAFE in her/his own home** is not aggressively upheld by the police, health & welfare and justice systems

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She was given back??????? Little girls or boys can't make up stories about sexual abuse. They have to experience it. I'm sitting here at a loss of words.

This is so blasted horrible to read! The media pays little to no attention to a case like this even though there was a death of a child, child abuse (sexual, physical and mental) and PROOF AND he is released! Yet other cases with no proof or confession or injury to no one gets smeared all over my face everyday. (Ghonz)

Japan needs to get its priorities right

shouldn't all of you be blaming the mother of the child and her relatives and not the government? they should bear the brunt of your indignation.

and this is a key line in the article that many of you willfully ignore:

But as she started saying she wanted to go home, the center concluded the abuse was not serious and ended her protection as of Dec. 27 that year so she could stay with relatives.

the gov't released her to her relatives, not the father. and the relatives actually agreed to give the girl back to her parents 2 months later. so did the system fail or did her mother and relatives fail her?

The father should receive life 

NO! He abused her physically, he abused her mentally, he RAPED her. He deserves to be executed although then he would still get off easy. And everyone involved should also get jailtime for this despicable mismanagement of abuse.

Usually these stories are very vague. I shouldn’t read this first thing in the morning.

So sad.

On today's episode of Japanese Incompetence, ...

I was 6:40am when i saw that news... i woke up my 2 kids, kissed 'em and told 'em daddy love you.

This kind of news makes my blood boil.

The center ended her protective custody, even though a doctor said she had been subjected to assaults as well as sexual abuse and suffered post-traumatic stress disorder. The national and prefectural governments are now looking into whether the decision at the time was appropriate.

I investigate the decision immediately and give the result right here : of course it wasn't freaking appropriate !!!!

Those who made the decision have no business working in child protection services. They should all get fired. At the very least.

Yubaru is right. HTF could they let her go back to this guy knowing everything that was going on? Let's hope he gets his comeuppance soon

It makes you wanna cry, doesn't it? And that photo . . . so sad.

May it be a hot day in hell when this creature arrives!

What a pair of monsters! These disgusting acts of cruelty to an innocent little girl puts a tear in my eyes.

Disgraceful and shameful conduct by those who were supposedto be protecting this child.

Here's hoping this guy gets the punishment he deserves. He's no different than that pervert who killed the little Vietnamese girl

Criminal negligence, and those who were in charge of her case should be prosecuted at the least. They also should NEVER be allowed to work with children ever again.

Preferably their next job should be making small rocks from large one's!

I think Japan needs to take care of the children they have, and improve the social services in this country, before asking people to have more children. If this were to happen in other developed countries, the whole department or organization would be under investigation. The people working there would also be fired if not brought up on charges themselves for negligence.

This story just broke my heart . Poor girl, and so failed by the system :(

The national and prefectural governments are now looking into whether the decision at the time was appropriate.

I do not think that we are relying purely on hindsight when we know that it wasn't.

The question should be why someone thought it could have been appropriate. Getting to the answer will mean picking through multiple layers of Japanese society and its bureaucracy.

Another child failed and lost.

Child protective services was the only backup she had and now she has been murdered!

The father should receive life with no parole or the gallows.

The center ended her protective custody, even though a doctor said she had been subjected to assaults as well as sexual abuse and suffered post-traumatic stress disorder. The national and prefectural governments are now looking into whether the decision at the time was appropriate.

These investigations are simply a pathetic attempt to look professional in the face of obvious stupidity and negligence!

The "taihen, ne?", "musogashii" and "gambatte" attitudes don't work when children and abuse are involved. Both the idiot public officials and the parents who are responsible need a serious foot up their backsides!

Please give this man the death penalty and long sentence to the mom. That would be a good message for the others out there.

Disgusting