Japan to spread child adoption awareness

There are children worldwide who, for whatever reason, cannot be raised by their birth parents. These reasons can include unwanted pregnancies, financial struggles or helping the children escape abusive environments. Regardless, it is vital that they are brought up in stable and loving environments, even if it is not with their biological parents.

The United Nations has its own Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children that stress the importance of stability. They state that two ideal examples of alternative care include being raised by other blood relatives or an adoptive home. But the adoption situation is not as ideal in Japan.

Little hope of adoption for Japanese orphans

There are both cultural and legal reasons in Japan why stable adoption is sometimes difficult. Culturally, there is a preference among Japanese families to have their own biological children. Legally, the birth parents retain strong rights even when adoption avenues are being sought for their child.

Japan has a high number of adult adoptions, mainly for inheritance purposes when the family lacks an heir. However, it has far fewer child adoptions than other developed nations. Many Japanese orphans live in childcare institutions where they have a slim chance of entering a stable and loving family. Only 18% of children in these institutions are adopted in Japan, compared with 93% in Australia and 77% in the United States.

Two adoption systems and recent system amendments

There are two systems for child adoption in Japan, foster care and special adoption. Foster care is often a temporary solution where the birth parents retain legal rights, though foster parents can receive financial support from the government. Special adoptions are permanent. Therefore, the original parents give up legal custody, and the child becomes officially registered in the adopted family.

The special adoption system was amended in 2019. Two major changes included increasing the maximum age of the adoptive child from 6 to 15 and changes in birth parents’ ability to revoke consent for the adoption. Birth parents now only have a two-week window in which to revoke consent. This change speeds up the process of the system.

Low awareness limits adoption opportunities

Despite the efforts to improve the system, another issue Japan faces is simply a lack of awareness. In fact, a 2017 survey by the Nippon Foundation found that over 60% of respondents either did not know about the foster care system or knew very little about it. Also, while 6.3% of respondents expressed interest in becoming foster parents. However, only 2% knew about financial support offered by the government.

Eriko Takahashi of the Nippon Foundation compares Japan’s situation to that of the United Kingdom’s, where over 70% of orphans get adopted by foster parents. That country also has a much stronger push for adoption, with more financial and promotional support provided.

The Nippon Foundation itself is involved in promotional activities to help spread adoption awareness in Japan. Its Happy Yurikago project (They recently changed the project name to “Home for Children project.”) was started to promote understanding of adoption. This involves everything from research and proposals to training for foster parents and financial support for private organizations promoting adoption. The organization is also involved in activities related to child welfare, such as supporting ill children and children in child care institutions.

The first step to solving many problems is to acknowledge that they exist. Cultural and legal barriers should be addressed, but they can’t be when few people are aware of these issues in the first place. Japan is overall a safe country to raise children in and many Japanese children go on to live rewarding and fulfilling lives. More effort should be made to ensure that Japanese children who cannot be raised by their birth parents have the same advantages and opportunities.