crime

Child consultation center fails to protect girl forced into prostitution by mother

60 Comments

A child consultation center in Sapporo failed to protect a 16-year-old girl who was being forced into prostitution by her mother, it has emerged. A police investigation has revealed that the girl was taken into care by the center, before being sent back home.

According to a report by NTV, the girl's mother had been selling her as a prostitute since she was in sixth grade. The girl told police she gave all her earnings -- usually 10,000 yen per "client" -- to her mother, NTV reported. She was taken into protective care once, when her mother was arrested for using illegal stimulants. The girl stayed at the facility until November of last year, but the center failed to identify the problem and let her go back home.

The girl lived with her mother and stepfather who has also been arrested on drug charges, NTV quoted police as saying. She was arrested in Sapporo on Aug 17 for use of illegal stimulants. Police said the girl has expressed no ill will toward her mother and is currently in a juvenile detention center.

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60 Comments
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"Police said the girl has expressed no ill will toward her mother and is currently in a juvenile detention center."

Is this the proper place for this young girl?

9 ( +9 / -0 )

A childhood lost.... This girl will likely never emerge from the life that her mother introduced her to. She will prostitute herself and likely do stimulants just like her.

Sad.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

This is so disgusting, I'm not going to comment.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

This girl will likely never emerge from the life that her mother introduced her to.

It all depends. If the mother was giving the daughter some of the money, she may have started to get to used to a certain level of lifestyle. By the looks of it, the mother took all the money, then the girl would likely have no reason to stay in such shocking conditions.

A lot of working girls stay in the job because they can not face the idea of living on a regular paycheck again.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

CrazyJoe:

This is so disgusting, I'm not going to comment.

I agree and therefore I won't reply to your non-comment.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

At least they finally did something about the situation. I hope that girl gets proper counseling now... Gonna take a lifetime of therapy to get her mental state back in shape after being raised with such terrible parenting.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Im with horrified and crazy joe but with just one extra question: why isnt this girls mother in jail? She has been pimping her daughter since she was ELEVEN or TWELVE for Gods sake!

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Good work, authorities - just lock the poor child up in a children's prison - that's just what she needs.So long as this mentality prevails towards helping victims of child abuse here, there is no hope for her or any kids in her situation.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

@horrified

Thanks your your comment to my non-comment, comment. ( I certainly had a good laugh!)

2 ( +2 / -0 )

"A police investigation has revealed that the girl was taken into care by the center, before being sent back home."

Is this a surprise? This kind of thing happens all the time -- putting the child or young adult back in the care of abusive parents, and only do we hear about it after investigation reveals such social services tried to cover up their ineptitude. The system in general here is flawed from the get-go, and there persists a kind of "we don't want to deal with it" attitude.

Elbuda Mexicano: "This is very, very sick, but you can go online and look up this kind of news ALL OVER THE WORLD, a grand mother in Argentina was just arrested for prostituting her own GRANDCHILDREN!"

Yes, there are sick people everywhere, but in most civilized nations when a child is rescued from abusive parents they are not so easily 'sent home' to be abused again as here in Japan. I mean, really... the girl was allowed into the youth shelter after her parents were arrested for drug use, but they thought it would be safe for her to go home a month or so later? And you know what? I'd bet they'll still think it's okay for her to go home again later after this incident as well, save that they've been publicly embarrassed and forced to actually DEAL with the problem.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

i think being in juvie is much better than being at home with her mom and step-dad. wouldn't be surprised to learn that he had his "finger" in the cookie jar, either

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Child welfare fails now again dismally.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

These kinds of articles pop up three or four times a year in Japan. It makes one wonder just how many more kids are being prostituted by their parents and go unreported.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

what a monster

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I don't want to renege on my first post, but here's what I found out.

The mother was arrested 3 years ago for using illegal stimulants. As you know, that's when the girl was taken into protective care. The girl was returned to her mother after her mother got out of prison. It was the mother's wishes that they live together. The girl enrolled in junior - high but seldom attended. She never enrolled in high-school. The girl's money from prostitution was earned to support the mother's drug habits. The girl experienced two abortions since 7th grade. The girl started using illegal stimulants in May of this year , being persuaded by her mother. The step father was arrested two days ago for sexually abusing the girl. This was the first arrest for the girl. There's nothing about the mother's current status.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

CrazyJoe - thanks for that unfortunate information. I imagine this girl will probably find it very hard to escape from this world now. It seems it's all she knows. Her friends, the people she turns to, the people who comfort her - all from the same environment probably. She'll know it's a relatively easy way to get money; there'll be no shortage of punters. I hope the child protection agencies can learn from this.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

And all that brings the question where is the role of the school here?

I am really stunt how schools and municipalities have different agenda and don't have strict rules for the pupils. When I was in school we could miss only several classes without reason and if someone made more would have special measure and finally had to repeat the year. Here for example Yokohama city instructions are than no kid can repeat a year no-mater what happens.

So what I mean is if the education system was also in place, sad case like this shouldn't exist.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I wonder how many other girls like this are in Japan in today's economy here.

The police should be looking for and prosecuting the guys that paid for her services as well, it was statutory rape.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

"illegal stimulants" is pretty vague.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Well, this girl was obviously brain-washed through abuse.

So where's the real father in this situation? Ah wait, In Japan, the real father isn't allowed to see his children. As a matter of fact, there's no joint custody. If there had been such a proper rule in place, enforced visitation rights for fathers and joint custody this might have been avoided.

No father wants to see his daughter sold off as a prostitute with monsters molesting and mentally destroying that young woman's identity and self-esteem. Even given the chance to actually see her father and contact him she may have reached out for help.

What I'm saying here is the government or NPO groups cannot be expected to provide the love and protection a natural father would.

As Yubaru mentioned. There are probably many other girls out there in this same situation. Cause and effect: You are removing fathers, the most positive image of man possible. A loving father isn't going to let his daughter go out of the house dressed like a tramp hoe.

Japan's family court system is the cause of such situations. As a father, I'm speaking to fathers, if you knew your ex-wife was peddling your daughter out on the street or through the Internet as a hooker and you had some legal say in the matter, I'm confident that you would do whatever you could to protect your flesh and blood daughter.

Japanese men / Foreign men do not have any say in the child's development, no visitation rights and no access. What's the result? A mom pimping her daughter. Not ALWAYS but here's one story. The rest I'm sure are unreported. I only hope that the press keeps on posting stories on abusive mothers.

"Your honor, there's a reason why I'm divorcing this woman" "She's not mentally sound" "She cheated on me, that's immoral" "What?? You're giving her custody of our daughter? I can't see her?? You think she's going to be a good mother after she brought that man into our bed??

Here's the effect. Nice story. Thanks JT!!

-1 ( +3 / -3 )

And will additional charges be brought forth now that this has come to light? Or is in not illegal to sell your daughter, as long as she has no "ill-will" toward you?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Very sad. I hope she can recover otherwise this is another childhood lost.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

crazyjoe, you ain't so crazy after all!

thanks for extra info. hate to see that i was write.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Japan, as a whole, is failing its children. If a young child can not trust a teacher, a doctor, and now even their own mother???? WTF!!! Who the heck can a child expect to ever really trust in this world??? THIS really, really pisses me off! Japan, the Japanese and all of us here in Japan must really reflect upon ourselves and try to help any children in need of help. IMHO.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

It's not clear... but it seems the second time, that was the girl that was arrested for stimulants, so she goes to the detention center. They had to do it Oh, that solves nothing on the long term, just takes her out of business and away from the drugs for a while. The question is about her future, she goes where after that ? What support ?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The mother is stupid. That's too low yen.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

So, a 16-year-old girl was being forced into prostitution by her mother but the center failed to identify the problem and let her go back home.

What kind of world are we living in?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The Likely hood is this girl will continue to abuse drugs and continue to prostitute herself once she is away from the authorites, she is now lost in a sad horrible place.

The drug will most probably be methamphetimine which is a devastating drug worse than crack or heroin, it destroys people from the inside out and is a disgusting soul destroying drug thar is extremely diffcult to shake.

Poor child never had a chance. Her mother should be treated as any other parent who abuses their child or more severely, Because the girl has no ill will towards this bitch of a mother should have no mitigation on the mercy of the courts.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

And all that brings the question where is the role of the school here?

Excuse me??? What role should they be playing? They would have called the parents numerous times over her not attending. If mom, step-dad and student ignore the rules and don't bother speaking to the school, what exactly would you like the teachers and the school to do? Honestly it amazes me what some people think teachers should do with regards to their students. They can't throw on a cape and rescue students. Where do you draw the line between school and home life. Tragic as it is, don't you dare try and blame the school and the teachers for this. If you expect teachers to parent students even more than they do now, you better pay them more, give them more time off and expect a mass exit out of the profession.

Sorry but I get tired of schools and teachers having to take parenting roles and it happens so often here and in many other countries that good teachers are quitting because they can't handle the stress of this and monster parents.

Child laws here need to change. Until they do we will continue to see issues like this, child beatings, killings and them just being pawns in marriages. It is sick and something needs to be done.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Why should anyone be surprised? The Japan government could not protect anyone from Fukushima's radioactive nightmare so how can they be expected to help any single individual with any other issue? The government is a complete failure on almost all levels (except, of course, self preservation and corruption. They are good at that).

3 ( +4 / -2 )

Poor little love. I gave my two little girls....who will always be my two little girls even when they are mothers themselves......and wonder what kind of 'mother', I use this term because the moderator would delete my post if I wrote the term I'd like to use.........could do that do her little girl. The horrors that some children have to live through.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Apologies. Rambling on I forgot myself. I meant to say that I gave my two little girls such a huge hug after reading this.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

The girl stayed at the facility until November of last year, but the center failed to identify the problem and let her go back home.

They didn't know that she was being pimped out by her own mother so let her go back home? But they DID know that this woman was a convicted drug user so didn't they look into the mother and the family situation more carefully?!!!

WTF!?! The girl is (arrested?) and put into a detention facility?! SHE is the victim here. She should be put into rehab and counseling and kept far away from the mother and the father too. Where is the mother now? This mother should be put in jail for child prostitution, neglect and should be deemed unfit. How can this happen? Oh, I know. They likely said that the child is best off with the monster, er, mother.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

To have a child of your own is to me the greatest gift on earth. to abuse the trust placed upon you by that child is the greatest sin. I hope the the young one gets the help she is going to need and is able to move on and make a success of her life. I hate to use the word mother in relation to her parent as the very word proclaims caring and love, so I just hope that justice prevails and she gets the sentence she deserves, the so called stepfather too

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@horrified

These illegal stimulants are 覚醒剤 (kakuseizai) (Amphetamine)

@bentheredonthat

Thanks for reminding me.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Just sick. This kind of awful business is certainly more prevelant in most any other country. GO JAPAN.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Criminal, the mother needs to be arrested for this

0 ( +0 / -0 )

OK, I'm confused. The headline and article imply that the child consultation center somehow failed to protect the child, yet nowhere did I read that the child told them of the prostitution activities before being returned to her mother. You can't "fail" to protect a child from forced prostitution if you don't know it's happening. The only way I see this as being the fault of the child consultation center is if she revealed that was what her mother had her doing.

"Juvie Hall" is probably the normal destination for high school prostitutes. By age 16 you can't claim you didn't know it was breaking the law to sell yourself.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Fadamor, she had been doing it so long, it makes me sick. Don't you have any compassion?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Sure I do and it is horrible what her mom forced her to do, but all these people expressing surprise that she is in juvenile detention are glossing over the fact that she was arrested for prostitution. Or maybe you're suggesting that under-age offenders all go free until their trial because it invariably will be someone else who is to blame for how they got started on this path? To quote the girl, the mother got her started on this, yet the girl holds "no ill will" towards her mother for what's happened. She obviously kept quiet about her after-school extra-curricular activities when she was at the counseling center, so it appears she was in no hurry to get out of the business. She had ample opportunity to get out of the profession prior to her arrest and refused to take it. Juvie Hall seems appropriate until they decide what to do.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Supplemental: Seems I'm wrong about her being arrested for prostitution. It was for possession of stimulants. My bad for not reading carefully. Sooo... how did the prostitution ever enter into the questioning? She feels no ill will towards her mother, yet readily coughed up the details on her prostitution activities and named the mother as the one who instigated it? Something still doesn't seem right.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

the girl was taken into care by the center, before being sent back home.

Sending her back home is a wrong thing to do. Are there any decent foster homes availabe in Japan for someone like her who has been emotionally and physically abused? Otherwise, they will never have a chance in life again. Sad.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Very sad. I hope she can recover otherwise this is another childhood lost.

She is 16 years old, been raped and abused for years and you think that recovery is all it takes to replace her lost childhood? Her childhood is lost not matter if she "recovers" from what I don't know.

This girl, by the unfortunate and sometimes cruelty of nature, was born to parents that should never had a child in the first place. She was lost from the day she was born.

However, I would like to think that given proper counseling, education, guidance, and support it's very possible that this girl could use her experiences to help girls growing up in similarly difficult, (AWOL parenting parents) situations.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@tmaire

Excuse me??? What role should they be playing? They would have called the parents numerous times over her not attending. If mom, step-dad and student ignore the rules and don't bother speaking to the school, what exactly would you like the teachers and the school to do?

Do you have any idea at all how Japanese elementary schools or junior high schools operate?

(That is IF, and that's a big if there, the girl was even registered into the local system. If the parents weren't registered for where they were living, and they didn't register their daughter for school, ignore the above question please.)

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Its just sad that this kid has go through such hell, i see no difference between this particular foster home handling of this girls case and the hearthless andself-centered behaviour of her so called parents. kawaisoni .

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Fadamor, the years of abusive have damaged her personality. Only hope would be to put her in Hospital and try and reverse the damage.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Yuri, there is no way to reverse the damage that has been done to her psychologically. What specialists or counselling can do for her though is hopefully teach her that what she went through was wrong.

This girl has been raised in an atmosphere where she probably doesnt know the difference between the two and similar to teaching a young child, she needs to be reeducated and taught how to take control of herself and how to protect herself from people who would otherwise prey on her.

She is also going to need to learn how to trust people who supposedly love and want to care for her and not just use her.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Fadamor. A lot of abused children still have strong emotional ties to their abusers. They want to be loved and when that love isn't forthcoming, they believe it's through some fault of their own. Kind of like ,' I deserve this treatment because I am bad or made my mother/ father angry.' Abusers often justify their behaivour stating the victim brought it on themselves. Look at domestic violence cases, you can see the same pattern in cases there. The fact is, parents are supposed to protect and nurture their children. Whether you believe the child agreed to the lifestyle or not, it was the Mother's responsibility to ensure her daughter lived in a safe and nurturing environment.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Similar to the Stockholm Syndrome, I'll bet that when she was first prostituted out as a young child she was brainwashed into thinking that she was actually doing something to help out her mother and family.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Disgusting!! But then again, what else can you expect from a CORRUPTED/OUTDATED/INCOMPETENT government that cares more about its own self-preservation and money than protecting CHILDREN in this country... what else? Politicians so concerned with which expensive car to buy or where they can eat tonight....instead of amending and renewing these shitty child laws...these fat smegma filled bureaucrats are more worried about the yen's value and country world image than its own children getting abused, raped, tortured and killed!!! SCUM government with SMEGMA bureaucrats!! But the people continue to bend down and take it!! right?? So what else can I say?? The people get what they deserve?!?! Go figure!

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

@Blue....it isn't just the "people" it's you and me and everyone else included. We make our choices in life and while this case is sad and disgusting it still is a hell of a lot better here than countless other places on the planet.

Thank what ever God's everyone believes in that this is still shocking and that your senses are not numbed to the depraved people in the world who prey on girls like this.

The parents are not the only guilty parties here, the people who raped her and paid for it, and the police and social services folks too, to head a long list of supposed adults who allowed this to happen.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

@Yubaru

The parents are not the only guilty parties here, the people who raped her and paid for it, and the police and social services folks too, to head a long list of supposed adults who allowed this to happen.

You are completely right about that. I hope everyone pays in one way or another for their horrendous misdeeds. They are GUILTY for what happened to this young lady.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Scarred for life by her own blood, just plain sick! Where was God when she needed him the most? At the end of the day only You can save You.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Where was God when she needed him the most?.

This problem has nothing to do with God but people who have no sense of decency, right, or wrong.

At the end of the day only You can save You

Would you mind explaining to me how a 12 or 13 yr old child is supposed to save herself? Particularly when the person responsible for her situation is her mother?

I believe it's naive thinking like this that perpetuates the problem of people keeping their heads in the sand about the society here in Japan that treasures "cute" and allows children to be put on pedestals as so called "idols".

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I'm not disagreeing with anything people have posted at me. She may very well end up in counseling if that is what's determined. I merely pointed out that juvenile detention is the norm for minors arrested and charged. The courts will determine what they feel is the best course of action, but until then you certainly aren't going to send her home NOR put her in a foster home - at least not until they determine whether she has kicked the addiction.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

smfh i'm so disgusted by this, why would her mother do such a cruel thing to her child, that's not cool at all >___>

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@ Yubaru - I was going to comment on Juan Rodriguez's comment but you said everything that came to mind.

I pray that all the adults that paid for her service and especially the mother/father are tried and convicted. It is a shame parents can put a child through something like this. I know each and every day I get to see my daughter I give her a hug n kiss thanking god she doesn't have to live life like this. It sounds irrational but I show no mercy for people who harm young children. In some circumstances and given the chance I would "pull the trigger" myself, knowing I would be punished by the justice system.

I can speak from personal experience to a situation like this. My mother who is in her late 50's now, was used much in the same way when she was a young girl (starting around 10 years old to pay for rent and such). Since I can remember she has abused drugs and alcohol at times but always showed my sister and I love. To this day she still suffers from her past and takes 30 something different pills a day to keep her semi stable. When I talk to her about it, she tells me there was a time she was truly happy for a few years until her husband was killed by a drunk driver. I guess the point I'm trying to make is, it will be a battle her entire life but good things can come in time.

Though I've not experienced anything quite that bad, I had a very hard childhood growing up. I've found ways to cope with the past and it was part of the problem (anger / resentment towards woman who are close to me) that ended my first marriage.

Poor little girl who never got to be a little girl... Hope she turns her life around and in the right direction.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I am not even going to comment because its too messed up

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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