Hokkaido Prefectural Government begins legal audit of care home that required residents to be sterilized

From NHK

December 26 2022

HOKKAIDO – On December 26, the Hokkaido prefectural government initiated a legal audit of a group home in Esashi Town, Hokkaido, after the facility proposed sterilization procedures for mentally disabled residents who wished to get married or live together.

Asunaro Fukushikai, a social welfare corporation in Esashi Town, claims that for more than 20 years, when mentally disabled residents at its group home wanted to get married or live together, the facility proposed infertility treatment, to which 8 couples and 16 people have agreed.

The Hokkaido government has been conducting voluntary interviews with the group homes, but has now begun audits based on the Comprehensive Support for Persons with Disabilities Act.

Approximately four hours after Hokkaido and Esashi Town officials entered the group home shortly before 1:30 p.m. on December 26, they loaded cardboard boxes, believed to contain materials from the facility, into a car.

After the audit, Fusae Imai, director of the Health and Environment Department of the Hiyama Promotion Bureau in Hokkaido, told reporters that she could not answer questions about what kind of materials were loaded into the car.

By switching from voluntary interviews an to audit, they will be able to ask staff and residents to cooperate with interviews and provide materials in accordance with the law.

Asunaro Fukushikai has stated at press conferences that it has never forced residents to undergo sterilization procedures and that “if they want to have children, we will cooperate, but we have told them that we cannot provide childcare services because we do not have the experience to do so.