On April 1, 2023, the government launched the Agency for Children and Families as an external organ of the Cabinet Office since the Basic Act on Children, the Act Establishing the Agency for Children and Families, and the Act to Ratify Relevant Laws on the Enforcement of the Act Establishing the Agency for Children and Families that were enacted last June, came into effect on the day.

The government document concerning the basic policy on children explains that “basically we have children up to the age of 18 in mind, but we also include young people, both generally after 18 and under 30, who are still in the process of developing a trouble-free social life as an adult,” thus covering a wider range than the Child Welfare Act.

The Agency's organizational chart is composed of the Administrator's Secretariat, the Development Bureau, the Support Bureau, and the National Institution to Support Children's Independence. Aside from that, as the Agency oversees policies relative to children and families, these functions used to be spread out among other ministries and were transferred as follows:

1. Cabinet Office:
a. Functions related to the support of children and young adults and measures against child poverty under the jurisdiction of the Director General for Policy (in charge of policy coordination).
b. Functions under the jurisdiction of the Headquarters for Children and Child-Rearing Administration.

2. Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology:
a. Functions related to mutual aid disaster benefits under the jurisdiction of the General Education Policy Bureau.

3. Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare:
a. Functions under the jurisdiction of the Child and Family Affairs Bureau (excluding women's protection services).
b. Functions relating to support for children with disabilities under the jurisdiction of the Department of Health and Welfare for Persons with Disabilities.

For more information, please visit: https://www.cfa.go.jp/top/