The shock of a mother’s violent slap in the face… A girl suffering from her father’s excessive violence “Attended a prestigious school, but attempted suicide and had a daddy’s life” – a spectacular trajectory!

The number of abuse consultations received by the Child Guidance Center is The number of cases of abuse reported to the Child Guidance Center has been increasing for more than 30 consecutive years. The number of cases of abuse reported to the Child Guidance Center has been increasing for more than 30 consecutive years, and has finally reached a record high of 200,000 cases. The number of cases has increased for more than 30 consecutive years, finally surpassing 200,000.

Finding and protecting a child who is being abused at home is called “temporary custody. Once a child is removed from the home and observed, he or she is placed in a foster home or with foster parents, as the case may be.

In this series, “Young Homeless,” we have often shed light on children who have lost their homes due to abuse. This time, we were contacted by a young girl who was temporarily sheltered three times in her junior and senior high school years, but ended up returning to her abusive parents’ home.

Why was she sent back to her abusive parents after being temporarily sheltered? We would like to consider this from the experience of a girl who continued to hurt herself through prostitution and suicide attempts because of this.

Yelling and raising her hands in anger at both her wife and daughter

The house was located in a quiet residential area in western Japan. The father was a researcher and the mother a housewife. The second of the four sisters was Mana Yamagishi (pseudonym).

Her father was an outwardly good-looking type of man, with a low profile and an affable attitude toward strangers and everyone else. However, when he returned home, his personality changed completely. He was always irritated, and if he didn’t like something, even a little, he would yell at his wife or daughter and raise his hands in anger.

To the family, the only reasons for his father’s anger were absurd. He would start a riot because he said the TV was too loud, or he would throw things at them because they didn’t like his language. Sometimes he would get violent when he didn’t like the sound of walking on the stairs. In short, he did whatever he felt like doing. This meant that his wife and daughters were always afraid of him and had to spend their time listening to their father’s face.

Mana describes the family relationship as follows.

My mother was quiet and obeyed my father. Even when he beat her for no reason, she kept quiet and did not resist. It was like she was mentally controlled by my father. My father once told me to be quiet because I (Mana) was noisy, and he even strangled me.

People around me must not have known that my father was violent. My mother never told my grandparents or even relatives about the domestic violence, and she never ran away from home. However, the stress seemed to have built up considerably, and my mother used to hit my oldest sister when my father was not around. Because of this, she would hit me, the second oldest, and I would hit my sisters.”

The father’s domestic violence was passed down the chain from the mother to the eldest sister, and from the eldest sister to her younger siblings. This also made the family relationship cold and suffocating.

The father was also unusually obsessed with his daughters’ education. All of his children were enrolled in cram schools from the time they could remember and were required to take the entrance exam for elementary school. They were also forced to take one lesson after another, and their week was filled almost entirely with cram school and lessons.

Mana says, “The lessons were cram school and English conversation.

She says, “I was forced to do all kinds of lessons, including cram school, English conversation, violin, swimming, and karate. They were especially strict about my studies, and if I didn’t get good grades, they would get very angry with me. I didn’t make my own decisions; my parents told me to do this or that, and I followed their orders. My parents also decided which schools I would take entrance exams to.

Mana herself was forced to take entrance exams not only for elementary school, but also for junior high school. If she had to pay this much in tuition and monthly fees, it would have amounted to a considerable amount of money for the four sisters. It seems that the father felt he had to control the family, even to that extent.

The first time Mana was taken into temporary custody was when she was in her first year of junior high school. At her parents’ insistence, she took the entrance exam again in middle school and entered a prestigious school. At this time, the school was looking for people to join the PTA, and his mother suggested that he try to do something with his skin for Mana’s sake. Perhaps she wanted to fill some kind of role outside the home.

But when her father heard about it, he scrunched up his face and began to get angry.

You think we have time for this?

Saying this, the father repeatedly slapped the mother across the face. The mother’s face became so swollen that she could not retain any original shape.

The next day, Mana went to school, but she could not recover from the shock of the previous day and could not stop crying. A teacher noticed something was wrong and approached her, so she told him what had happened at home.

A list of rules like a “prison”

It was several hours later that Child Guidance Center staff arrived at the school. The school had reported the incident. Mana was taken directly into the temporary custody of the Child Guidance Center.

Normally, the Child Guidance Center takes the protected child to a temporary shelter. However, the center was probably full, so Mana was taken to a children’s home, where she was kept for a short period of time. According to the caseworker, she and her parents will discuss and decide on her future.

Life at the facility was like a “prison” in Mana’s opinion. The following is an example of the rules.

The children are not allowed to go to school or go out.

You are not allowed to approach people within arm’s length of each other.

Clothing and all other items must be provided by the facility.

Stationery may only be used in front of staff members at designated times.

Students are to study for 4 hours a day, solving printed materials.

No eye contact with boys.

Although there were circumstances, it was too severe for a girl in her first year of junior high school.

Mana describes her feelings at the time.

I wondered why I had to be here. Because it was my father who was at fault, not me. And yet, my father was living a carefree life at home, and I was locked up in a place like this, not even allowed to go to school. I had no idea why that was happening.

After a while, a caseworker arrived. The caseworker seemed to accept that the violence in the home was not so serious. The outwardly good-looking father must have been well-prepared, and the mother must have complied.

The caseworker said, “You should let Mana take care of things from now on.

The caseworker said, “I’ll leave it to Mana-chan to decide what to do. If you don’t want to live at home and want to live in an institution, we will accept you. However, in that case, she will have to quit the private junior high school she is currently attending and go to a public junior high school near the facility.

He sounded as if he was taking his father’s side.

Mana was shocked. Why would she have to quit the junior high school she had passed after studying so hard?

Mana asked.

Why do you have to quit school?

He is the one who pays the tuition, isn’t he? If you live in an institution, you have to go to a public junior high school as a rule. If you want to continue attending your current school, you will have to return home and have your father pay your tuition. Well, you’re going to a private school, so that’s one thing.”

He sounded as if he was taking his father’s side. Perhaps he was saying that if his father did not go home, he would not pay his tuition. Mana replied with a shrug.

I don’t want to live with my father. But if I have to quit school and live a crippled life in an institution, I will go home.”

Thus, Mana was to return to the house where her father ruled.

However, this puts Mana in a more difficult situation. With no way to escape, she attempts suicide and engages in daddy’s activities. For the sad story of such a girl, please read [Part 2: Miracle of a prestigious schoolgirl who hit rock bottom through prostitution and suicide attempts].

* * * * * * It is possible to go to a private school from an orphanage, but there are various conditions, which did not apply to Mana.

[ Part 2: Miracle of a prestigious schoolgirl who hit rock bottom due to prostitution and suicide attempts.