My father was adopted in Japan. When he was adopted, Japan was a very different country. He grew up in a rural society that has now almost entirely disappeared. In between 1945 and today, Japan went through radical changes, much more radical than America during the same time. And this was on top of a previous century of radical changes. The only country I can think of that changed so much in the 20th century was Argentina. At one point in the early 20th century, one-third of the population of Argentina was foreign-born.
In Japan, the social engineering did not involve immigration; it was technological, familial, educational, economic, ecological.
The circumstances of my father's adoption are totally different than what takes place in Japan now. I've been researching it on and off for a while, and it's pretty depressing. Since I don't speak or read Japanese, I have to warn anyone who reads this that my perception might be misleading, so do your own research if at all possible. I can't rely on my father for information. He's decided that there is no adoption in Japan, whatsoever, period paragraph end. His logic is that there are so few children in Japan that it's impossible anyone would give one up.
Here are some basic differences between domestic adoption in America and in Japan.
1) Japan has an extremely low birth rate. For the large majority of the population, there is no religious or cultural proscription against birth control or abortion. This is one of the things that contribute to a low birth rate. Another is that Japan is in a "middle zone" in terms of population growth. In societies where children are labor commodities and support their parents, and women have few rights, the birthrate is going to be high. Once this economic dynamic changes -- children start costing money to raise and educate, and women gain a measure of reproductive freedom -- then the birth rate goes way down. This is where Japan is at right now. Spain and Italy are in a similar position.
Some of the Scandinavian countries have gone a step further and had success in increasing their birthrates, using generous maternity leaves and state subsidies. But in Japan, women have little incentive to have children. Sexism in the workplace is very strong. If a Japanese woman wants to have a career, a child is a major handicap. As long as she stays child- and husband-free she has one of the most materially enviable lifestyles in the world.
Japan is an aging country with few, very treasured children. Japanese are very conscious and fearful of the graying of their population. The alternative would be to keep the population at replacement level by allowing increased immigration. This brings us to number 2...
2) Japan is NOT a multicultural or multiracial society. There are minority groups like the Ainu and Korean-Japanese, but racism/ethnocentrism is strongly present against those who are not "real" ethnic Japanese. Racism is one reason why Japan will not allow increased immigration. Some of the children in the childcare system in Japan are multiracial, and some are the children of foreign workers, and these children are officially stateless. There would be major social obstacles in placement of these children in adoptive homes. See this ISSJ webpage for more context.
3) Japanese have an anti-adoption attitude. The new prime minister's wife is an infertile woman who has gone public about why she doesn't have a child. Apparently people don't talk about these things much, so her willingness to step forward was very radical. Unfortunately, she also gave voice to the common belief that adoptive parents cannot fully love their children.
From the China Daily:
Akie Abe's remarks to a magazine were remarkably frank for a prime minister's wife, reflecting her effort to show a more human side of her husband, Japan's youngest post-World War II premier.
Shinzo Abe, 52, has pledged to encourage Japanese to have more children to reverse a declining birthrate, triggering media speculation as to why he is childless himself.
In an interview with the monthly magazine Bungei Shunju, Akie Abe, 44, confessed she felt strong pressure to bear children because her husband is a third-generation politician.
"Coming from a household of politicians, there was of course a lot of pressure, including from local constituents. But now it has become difficult, in part because of my age, so people no longer tell me to keep at it," she said.
"At the early stage, I did go through fertility treatment. But I think that I should accept my fate that I am the wife of a politician who became prime minister, and that we did not have the gift of having children."
She said she considered adopting a child a rare occurrence in Japan other than within extended families and noted that adoption was "very common in the United States."
"But I wasn't able to go through with it mentally and I didn't have the confidence to raise a child, so it didn't become a reality."
4)
Japanese are very good at ignoring problems. This is a pretty subjective statement. But for abandoned and abused Japanese children, there is a big problem, and everyone is busy ignoring it.
From
a corporate foundation webpage:
Even though Japan is in the midst of a declining birthrate, every year more and more abused or neglected children are being placed children's homes. The number of facilities (555 as of 2005/12) to treat abused children is increasing nationwide, but chronic overcrowding persists with many needy children placed on waiting lists to receive care. In FY 2005 the social security budget was 84.2668 trillion yen out of which only a mere 3.8% went towards expenses related to children and family. Expenses related to care for the elderly took up 70.4% of the total budget. This is an enormous gap in priorities.
The flip side of the ability to ignore is the ability to create rapid change. America is known for its "can do" spirit but the Japanese can do even more. Once they fully set their mind to solve a problem or to change their society, they will accomplish their goals. Akie Abe's public mention of adoption is a tiny beginning.
So to put all these together, there are very few children born in Japan who are given up into the care of the state. Since Japan is so wealthy, children are rarely given up for reasons of poverty. Few children whose mothers did not want to conceive are born, because women have a fair amount of reproductive freedom and weak proscriptions against abortion.
An article was going around recently about a hospital in Japan that had installed a baby chute for women to drop off their infants. If this story was true, doesn't it mean that contrary to what I said, there is a lot of relinquishment going on?
TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - A Japanese hospital plans to set up the country's first "baby hatch" where mothers can drop off unwanted babies, who could then be offered for adoption.
Jikei Hospital in southern Japan said it plans to install what it is calling a "stork's cradle", consisting of a flap in an outside wall which opens on to a small incubated bed.
An alarm bell would ring within minutes after a baby was deposited so hospital staff could come and care for the infant.
"By installing the hatch, we want to rescue both parents and babies," said a hospital official. "Maybe there are some people who are suspicious about it, but we should not pretend not to see them and let them die. Babies are innocent."
The head of the hospital was inspired to set up the "baby hatch" after visiting Germany, where they have already been introduced. The hospital wants to set up the baby hatch by the end of this year after getting approval from local authorities.
Adoptions are relatively rare in Japan, while there is little resistance on religious grounds to abortions.
This is either a stupid, made-up story or a stupid hospital administrator falling victim to the "must have the latest dumbass gadget" syndrome which is endemic in Japan.
I once had a book of photographs from 1930s Japan. One was a very bizarre photo of a bunch of smiling young schoolboys naked except for dark goggles and speedos, clustered around a shiny metallic chamber. I asked my dad what on earth was going on in that photo. He explained that it was a UV chamber. They had them in Germany in the 1930s so that children would get more UV exposure and hence more Vitamin D. There was no medical reason at all for these chambers in Japan, since children there get very dark playing outside and there's much more sun than in Germany... but because the Germans had UV chambers, the Japanese had to have them too.
Anyway, there aren't many children, proportionally speaking, in the care of the state. But according to that foundation website, the number is growing. As the traditional extended family breaks down further and further, their numbers will grow even more.
Here's an account from a woman who adopted from one of the children's homes. It's
from a publication called kanjiclinic.com:
Sho had been placed in the children's home by his birth mother when he was 3 months old. 25,000 children live in Japan's 527 state-run or subsidized children's homes. They are rarely discussed in public, and most are not available for adoption. The majority of Japanese who place their children in the permanent care of the state will not relinquish their parental rights. They would rather have their children remain in institutions, until the age of 18, than be adopted by strangers.
Sho's birth mother was an exception. She had recently agreed to allow his adoption, and the social worker was anxious to find a family for him immediately. After his second birthday, in just a few weeks, he would be uprooted from here and moved to a different institution, one for older children.
Of course, Sho was unaware of the enormous effect this encounter could potentially have on his future. Still, he sensed that something was in the air, and he was tense as he gazed at "Mama" and "Papa" for the first time. Clinging ever more tightly to the caregiver's neck, the poor little fellow burst into tears.
Here's a very sad passage from later in her account:
As my husband and I cuddled some of the other children at bedtime, Cha-chan told us that while the basic needs of all the children were met, there were simply not enough available laps and hands to give them a fully satisfying amount of affection. Most had no, or only rare, visitors.
Twice a year, she said, the director sent each legal guardian-- a parent or relative-- a photo documenting their child's growth. These were mailed out prior to New Year's and Bon, with a plea that the child be taken home overnight for those holidays, but few guardians came to get them.
Only Sho and one other child there were slated for adoption. Their guardians, unlike the great majority of others, had agreed to relinquish custody of the children so that they could be adopted. The others would be moved to an institution for older children when they turned 2.
Here's
a description of the children from an internship program at UC Davis:
Since 1993, this program has offerd UC Davis students a unique opportunity to participate in an international, cultural and educational exchange. The children's homes accepting interns are long-established institutions with years of success preparing Japanese children for productive and successful lives. The homes are not quite orphanages, and not quite group homes; there is no direct English translation. Together with the Japanese staff and native college-student interns, UC Davis interns will share in the lives of school-age youngsters.
...
LIVING WITH THE CHILDREN:
The children sometimes behave badly because they have not been able to live with their own parents or maintain normal relationships with other adults from whom they might absorb normal social behavior. Accordingly, if such problems occur, the interns will be expected to point them out and try to convince the children to behave properly, even scolding them if necessary. This approach is the foundation on which to build a trusting relationship.
The principle elements of the intern's work will be helping out with the children's daily dressing, meals, schoolwork, plus any other duties necessary to maintain a supportive environment. A lot of time will also be devoted to entertaining and playing with the children.
With only 1 or 2 exceptions, the children at the institutions are both mentally and physically able to participate in normal activities. However, some children who appear to be normal and cheerful may in fact have experienced personal difficulties before coming to these institutions and will be suffering from severe emotional wounds.
My first reaction when learning about the childrens' homes was anger. How could the families of these children condemn them to such a life? How would these children ever complete the educational path which is so crucial to Japanese society and identity? If their families allowed them to be adopted, they'd at least have a chance not to live at the margins of society.
After I thought about it some more, I realized my anger was misplaced. I tried to put myself in their shoes. If I was the guardian of one of these children, I might think of adoption as the worst of all evils. "
Adoptive parents can never fully love their children. If I allow them to be adopted, they would just be abused and treated like a servant. I have a lot of trust in government institutions. They will know what's best for us. They can raise them."
I don't think this is a very healthy attitude.
Many people argue the case that adoption in the U.S. -- and they mainly refer to infant, private adoption -- is viewed too positively. I've found that I basically agree with that. Adoption shouldn't be the best of all possible alternatives - the default choice. If someone doesn't want to parent, they shouldn't be forced; otherwise, the child belongs with their blood relatives over anyone else. I don't run into that "adoption uber alles" sentiment a lot in foster care system adoption perspectives, but I know it's out there, and it's kind of weird, especially since it's usually wrapped up in religion. When we did our adoption classes we had several exercises where we had to take the perspective of the social worker and decide who should stay where. It was pretty clear who belonged back with their parents, who should be adopted, who should stay in foster care and enter independent living. Of course real lives are much more complicated than condensed sample case histories, but the principle is the same: adoption is one of several possible solutions for the welfare of the child.
The problem in Japan is that adoption is almost written out of the picture. In my opinion, their domestic adoption is more messed up than their international adoption program, which is so expensive it disqualifies too many people, but overall seems logical. A tiny number of children (the last yearly figure I remember is 40) are adopted out of the country each year, and the rules require a strong connection to Japan. It's possible this rule might be slightly relaxed for the stateless or non-ethnic-Japanese children. One couple I read about qualified because they lived in Hawaii surrounded by a Japanese-American community, but most people qualify because they themselves are Japanese-American. I would qualify, if I could afford the massive fees (I've heard $40-$50,000 ) and if my father didn't have a blindfold fastened so firmly on his eyes. I would love to adopt a multiracial child from the system there, because I have a "there but for the grace of God go I" feeling when I think about growing up multiracial in Japan. I've faced a lot of racial problems here, but it's nothing compared to what it would have been like had my family stayed in Japan. There are families that stick with it, and I wish them all the best; with a lot of parental foresight and the right choice of school, the children will grow up happy. These kinds of families are eventually going to change Japan for the better. But a multiracial child growing up in a childrens' home... it really hurts me to think about it.
I hope that in future there is greater awareness in Japan about adoption, and a greater willingness to believe that waiting children can be loved by their adoptive parents. Like I said before, the Japanese can solve any problem they really want to solve, and once awareness begins, I predict a snowball effect, a massive information campaign and a complete change leading to increased domestic adoption and greater childcare support services.
I also think Japan should start a special international program for the adoption of stateless and multiracial children waiting in childrens' homes and subsidize a percentage of their legal adoption fees.
By the way, if you are a reader who knows anything more about this subject, I would greatly appreciate a comment or an email. If you disagree violently with anything I said, just let me know why.
Foster Care System Perspectives
