Research on independence support for adolescents with foreign roots in social care

Immigrants make up nearly three per cent of Japan’s population and yet children with diverse cultural backgrounds and their families are at a greater risk of experiencing welfare issues. Successful intervention has proven difficult due to a lack of understanding about the difficulties facing these children and their families. At the Department of Child Care and Support in the Faculty of Design for Welfare Society at Toyo University in Japan, Dr Natsuko Minamino is bringing her extensive experience in immigrants and vulnerable communities to research to shed light on the situation of adolescents with foreign roots in social care. The goal is to produce findings that will lead to the development of measures to improve these peoples’ lives. Through data collection, disclosure and education, Minamino is striving to expand understanding about immigrants and their vulnerable situations and generate enhanced awareness of the situation among professionals in order that interventions can be put in place. A key challenge faced by immigrant adolescents, Minamino has found, is that there is inadequate support for learning Japanese, which negatively impacts self esteem and ability to integrate and feel a sense of belonging. She is developing a training model to support professionals and is also considering the practices of other countries. For example, she is drawing from Australia's Culture Care Plan which focused on ensuring the cultural inheritance of Aboriginal children.