The death of a 2-year-old boy while under the care of a baby sitter in Saitama Prefecture highlights the need for measures and systems to ensure that parents can leave their children with reliable parties, experts say.

According to reports, the child¡¯s mother, a resident of Yokohama, hired the man through an online baby-sitting broker website, and that the boy and his 8-month-old brother were kept in the man¡¯s apartment in Fujimi, Saitama Prefecture. The mother apparently barely knew who the man was.

Akemi Morita, a Toyo University professor of child welfare, stressed the need for a system to vet baby sitters.