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Gender Equality Bureau, Cabinet Office
6-1, Nagata-cho 1-chome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 100-8914 Japan

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Amended Child Welfare Law Goes into Effect

The Child Welfare Law was revised in 1997 to re-examine nursery policies and other measures with a view to create an environment conducive to nursing and to assist sound growth and independence of children of fatherless families. It was amended and put into effect on 1 April 1998. With a rise in the number of dual-income families, it is now common for such families to use day-care centers. Diversifying work styles, meanwhile, demand diversified child care such as the nursing of infants, extension of nursing hours and temporary nursing (providing emergency or short-time nursing). It is therefore necessary to establish a system that can provide high-quality nursing services to meet flexibly the diversifying demand. Nursing fees are set in accordance with children's age after taking into account the impacts on family budgets of collecting fees on the basis of nursing costs. Previously, nursing fees were set on the basis of income taxes paid by the guardian of children in the preceding year, etc.