[Hokkaido] Release of Results of the Fact-Finding Survey on Marriages, etc. of Residents of Group Homes for Persons with Disabilities

On 7 April 2023, the Hokkaido government released the results (preliminary report) of a fact-finding survey on marriages, etc., of residents of communal living assistance facilities, known as group homes.

This survey was conducted after discovering in December last year that a group home in the town of Esashi, Hokkaido proposed sterilization for residents with intellectual disabilities when they wished to get married or live together in the facility.

The purpose of the survey was to ascertain the support issues felt by managers regarding the marriage of residents at communal living assistance facilities and to compile and assess the current situation at these facilities. The survey covered managers at all 399 communal living assistance facilities under the jurisdiction of Hokkaido, with 274 valid responses and a response rate of 68.7%.

The survey method was that the communal living assistance offices were notified of the survey request via the respective general promotion bureaus, and the managers responded by accessing the Hokkaido e-Local Government Joint System.

The main findings of the survey are as follows:

1. Type of disabilities of current residents:
 a. Intellectual disability: 89.4%
 b. psychosocial disability: 70.8%
 c. physical disability: 36.1%
 d. intractable disease: 11.7%
2. Availability of rooms for married couples or couples in a relationship:
 a. Yes: 6.6%.
 b. No: 93.4
3. Whether or not rooms are being used by a married couple or two people in a relationship:
 a. Yes (same room): 2.6%
 b. Yes (separate room): 3.3%
 c. No: 94.1%
4. In the past, rooms that were used by a married couple or two people in a relationship:
 1. Yes (same room): 5.5%
 2. Yes (separate room): 6.2%
 3. No: 88.3%
5. Acceptance of a married couple or two people in a relationship staying at the facility:
 a. Accepted: 31.8%
 b. Accepted with conditions: 8.8%
 c. No: 59.4%
6. Whether or not rules are applicable in their daily life for married couples or couples in a relationship staying at the facility:
 a. With rules: 13.9%
 b. No rules: 86.1%
7. Whether requests or consultations from tenants or prospective tenants for advice on dating, marriage, childbirth, childcare were received or not:
 a. Yes: 25.2%
 b. No: 74.8%
8. Whether the wishes of tenants or prospective tenants regarding dating, marriage, childbirth, child care, and so on were or were not ascertained:
 a. Yes:10.6%
 b. No: 89.4%
9. Tenants moved out for reasons such as dating, marriage, childbirth, or childcare:
 a. Yes, some of them moved out: 5.5%
 b. No, tenants moved out: 94.5%

For more information, please visit: https://www.pref.hokkaido.lg.jp/hf/shf/148112.html

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