【英語版】保育所等利用申請案内動画テキスト情報

This video was created to explain how to enroll your child in childcare services.

When making your application, please refer to the “Guide to Use”.

This video will explain the basics of childcare services available within Kawasaki City.

Broadly speaking, there are two types of childcare facilities: hoikusho (licensed daycare centers) and ninkagai (unlicensed facilities).

Applications to hoikusho should be made to the local government of Kawasaki City, whereas applications to ninkagaishould be made directly to individual establishments.

Hoikusho are establishments where you can leave your child if you are unable to mind them for more than 64 hours per a month due to work, study, illness, or any other approved reason.

This video will explain mostly about licensed daycare centers, which require you to make an application directly to Kawasaki City.

There are various types of facilities available in addition to ninka hoikusho (standard, licensed daycare centers). These include: nintei kodomoen (certified childcare centers) which offer both education and childcare; shōkibo hoiku (small daycares) and kateiteki hoiku (family daycares), which offer services to children aged 0 to 2; and jigyōshonai hoiku (corporate daycares), which accept both children of employees of a particular company and children living in the surrounding area.

We will coordinate with shōkibo hoiku, kateiteki hoiku and jigyōshonai hoiku in your area to try to ensure that they give priority to your child to enter the next grade when they turn from 2 to 3 years old.

In order to use a daycare facility, your need for access to childcare must be approved based on the fact that you and all other guardians of your child are unable to mind your child for more than 64 hours per month due to work or other reasons.

Please apply to be approved for this when you apply to enroll your child in a daycare.

Your child will be designated to join a particular grade based on their age as of the 1^st of April.

Please note that even if your child turns 1 in the middle of the academic year, they will be placed in the grade for 0-year-olds during that academic year.

Please note that even if your child is accepted by a daycare to join a grade for 0-year-olds, the exact age of admission differs from daycare to daycare.

　Depending on the daycare, age for entry and business hours will differ. Please check that the daycare `s policies suit your needs.

When you see your children off to daycare, you will not be able to use a car.

It is possible to visit daycare centers and view them. It`s preferable to bring your child with you to view a daycare before making your application, but there are cases when visits will not be possible due to COVID-19 prevention measures, so be aware of these limits.

In order to arrange a visit, please contact each daycare directly.

On your application form, you can write up to 20 daycare centers. If you wish to list more than 9, please write the rest in the margin of the application form or on a separate piece of paper.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Please only make an application to a daycare if you are sure that your child can conveniently attend it until they outgrow it.

Complete your application at your local ward office or Community Health and Social Welfare Station. As a general rule, if you live outside the city but plan to move to Kawasaki, apply to the municipality where you currently live, keeping to the deadline set by Kawasaki City.

In the case of application at any time is the middle of the fiscal/academic year, apply by the 10^th day of the month before the desired month of enrollment.

If you plan to enroll your child in April, please note that a very large number of applications is expected.

If your documents are incomplete, your application may not be accepted and you could miss the deadline, so please complete the application procedure as early before the deadline as possible.

Moreover, you can also apply by post for April admissions.

Documents to be submitted include: kyōiku/hoiku kyūfu nintei shinseisho ("Application for Approval of Education and Childcare Benefits"), hoikushotō riyō mōshikomisho ("Application for Using Daycare Centers"), a document proving that childcare is required, and a document explaining your household situation.

The application forms are available at every ward office and District Health and Social Welfare Station. You can also download them from the Kawasaki City website.

For further details about application documents, please refer to the guide for use.

After receiving your application form, we will send you a "Notification on the Decision of Education and Childcare Benefit Approval".

A naitei (preliminary decision) will be sent out to parents who have been granted admission to a nursery for their child.

In addition, children who have been granted admission will be required to undergo a pre-admission health examination.

As a result, if your child is granted the right to use a daycare center, we will send you a Notification on the Amount of Fees to be Paid.

If you are not granted approval to use a daycare center at this time, we will send you a Notification of Denial of Admission.

The number of children in a given grade at every daycare center is capped, and based on age groups. If the number of applicants exceeds the number that can be accepted, we will conduct needs assessments to discern the degree of priority of each child (across all groups and daycare centers).

In this needs assessment, the degree of necessity for daycare services in each household is evaluated using a score, and households with the highest scores are offered a place for their child first.

First, based on Appendix 1 of the city's standards for needs assessments, each household will be classified into ranks A to H, and children from higher ranked households will be granted enrollment at a daycare center.

If two applications are competing for a place within the same rank, an offer of admission will be made to the child from the household with the highest score according to Appendix 2, "Table of Readjustment Points”. If two households have the same scores after this, an offer will be made to the child from the household with the highest score according to Appendix 3, "Table of Readjustment Criteria".

In the ranking of households, each guardian is assigned a rank from A to H, according to how urgently they require access to childcare services. The lowest ranking guardian is used to determine the household rank.

“Readjustment points” are a judgement criteria used when dealing with households which have identical rankings. Regardless of how high a household’s rank readjustment points are, priority will be given to the household with the highest rank overall.

Furthermore, if the rank, rank readjustment points, and readjustment criteria points are the exact same between two households, then priority will be given to the household that (a) has three or more children in their care and (b) has lower income status, in that order.

Next, we will explain naitei, which refers to being given a tentative offer for enrollment at a daycare center.

Needs assessments will be made for each daycare center and age group-based grade respectively, regardless of your order of preferences.

If you decline the offer, your application will be withdrawn.

If you wish to continue using another daycare center, you will need to apply again, and will be subject to a needs assessment from the month following the submission of your application.

Next will be an explanation about daycare fees.

Due to fee waivers for early childhood education and childcare, there are no fees for all children aged 3 to 5, and children aged 0 to 2 who come from households that are exempt from residence tax. However, you will still need to pay for school lunches and any other out-of-pocket expenses.

Daycare fees for children aged 0 to 2 are calculated based on the type of daycare used, and your household's total income-based municipal tax rate (aka city tax rate).

Please note that "mortgage loan tax deductions" and "hometown tax deductions" do not apply to the income-based municipal tax rate mentioned here.

In addition, if siblings from the same household use a daycare or kindergarten at the same time, the second child’s fees will be half the regular price, and the third and subsequent children will be free.

This concludes our explanation of childcare services.

Next, will be an explanation about Kawasaki-certified, non-licensed daycare centers.

"Kawasaki-certified daycare centers" (Kawasaki nintei hoikuen) are daycare facilities that are unlicensed, but which meet the standards set by Kawasaki City in terms of space and staffing, and are independently certified by Kawasaki City.

When using a Kawasaki-certified daycare center, there is a system that subsidizes the monthly childcare fee by up to 20,000 yen per month. It is available to parents who meet requirements such as working 64 hours or more a month, and having no overdue childcare fees.

In addition, those who use Kawasaki City-certified daycares and who meet certain requirements are also eligible for fee-waivered early childhood education and childcare. However, any childcare fees that exceed the monthly upper limit will need to be paid independently.

Please contact each daycare center directly for more details about their childcare services and application processes.

Next, we will explain about other unlicensed facilities that offer daycare services.

Unlicensed daycare facilities include Kawasaki City-certified daycares, childcare business facilities led by private companies, and community-based daycare centers. For more details, refer to the guide to use.

When choosing a daycare, please consider using unlicensed facilities in addition to licensed ones.

When you find a daycare that suits your needs, please contact the facility directly and find out about daycare fees and how you can apply.

Kawasaki is doing its best to continue developing its daycare centers to ensure there is space for everyone to enroll their child in a facility that suits their needs, but unfortunately not everyone who applies will be guaranteed a place for their child.

Next will be an explanation about making applications to daycares while on parental leave, and how exactly the needs assessment for using daycare centers is evaluated.

You can make an application while you are on parental leave, on the condition that you must return to work by the end of the month in which you wish to start using the service.

Next will be about enrolling your child in a daycare if you are worried about allergies or have other health concerns.

Please inform us of any food allergies your child has at the time of application for admission, or during the interview at the daycare after an offer for admission has been made.

In addition, children who have been offered a position at a daycare are required to undergo a pre-enrollment medical checkup.

If the pre-admissions medical examination determines that it may be problematic for your child to be put with others, then your child will be further examined by the city's Health Management Committee. If they determine that there will be no issues, then your child will be admitted to the daycare.

Next we will explain about how to apply to daycares located in different wards in Kawasaki City.

You can apply to any daycare in any ward, so long as it is within Kawasaki City.

Please apply to your local ward office or District Health and Social Welfare Station in the same way that you apply to the daycare in your ward.

Next will be about procedures to complete if you are applying to a daycare outside of Kawasaki City.

The application should be made through your local ward office or District Health and Social Welfare Station.

However, the required documents and deadlines for submission will differ depending on municipality, so be sure to check with the one you are applying to.

Furthermore, try to submit the documents at least 1 week before their specified deadline.

Next will be about documents to submit when enrolling two or more siblings at the same time.

Please submit original copies of your Application for Approval of Education and Childcare Benefits (kyōiku/hoiku kyūfu nintei shinseisho) and Application for Using Daycare Centers (hoikushotō riyō mōshikomisho) for each child separately.

When submitting documents to prove that you require childcare or documents relating to your household situation, please submit one original copy AND copies corresponding to the number of children in your household.

If you have already made an application for admission in April, it is possible to also apply for admission during the current fiscal year (between December and March).

In this case, please attach copies of the declaration documents you send along with the application you make for admission in April.

Next will be about how the needs assessments for second round applications work.

For April admissions, we will first conduct a needs assessment for those who applied in the first round.

If the result of your application changes (for example if someone else declines a place at a daycare), a second needs assessment will be conducted. This will take into consideration applicants from the first and second rounds of applications who are still waiting for a place.

Applicants who were deferred after the first needs assessment do not need to make an application to be considered in the second round.

Next will be about what you should do if you want to change your list of preferred daycares.

Be sure to fill out an “Application Form for Changing Preference of Daycare Centers” (hoikushotō riyō henkō mōshikomisho), and submit it before the deadline.

If your application for April enrolment gets deferred after the first round of needs assessments, and you submit changes to your list of preferred daycares before the deadline for the second round, these changes will be taken into consideration during the second round.

This final section will be about how long your application will remain in “pending processing” (nyūsho horyū) status if it is deferred after the first round of needs assessments.

Once an application for admission has been submitted, it will remain valid for the duration of the year.

Those who are deferred after the first round of needs assessments for admission in April will be subject to the second round thereafter, as well as periodical monthly needs assessments from May until March of the following year.

However, please be sure to notify us of any changes in your address, employment status, etc.