Govt targets use of adoption as criminal cover
21 December 2010
Govt targets use of adoption as criminal cover
The Yomiuri Shimbun
City, town and village governments would inform the Justice Ministry's regional legal affairs bureaus about dubious adoption applications under a proposed plan the government hopes will prevent illegal abuse of the adoption system, government sources said.
Under the plan, the legal affairs bureaus will investigate the persons involved in such applications, including those who file them and those designated as prospective adoptive parents and children, the sources said.
By the end of this year, the government plans to send relevant authorities a notice issued by the director of the ministry's Civil Affairs Bureau that will include standards for applying the envisaged system, according to the sources.
In a number of cases in recent years, the adoption system has been abused to unlawfully obtain loans, illegally acquire passports and commit fraud.
Some perpetrators applied for adoption procedures on multiple occasions to assume different surnames.
Currently, adoption applications have to be accepted by local governments unless the documents are technically flawed. To make matters worse, many local governments have had insufficient staff to adequately examine the details submitted in applications.
In an attempt to rectify the situation, the planned system will require local governments inform regional legal affairs bureaus and their branches about suspicious adoption applications, which will then be investigated by the bureaus.
The adoption system enables a legal parent-child relationship to be established between people without a blood relationship. It is designed to provide protection and nurturing to adopted children, and enables people without children to gain an heir.
There is no legal limit on how many times an individual can apply for adoption procedures. In fiscal 2009, a total of 85,094 applications were submitted nationwide.
However, many applications have been regarded as questionable or even unlawful.
In November, the Kanagawa prefectural police found a group of about 60 men and women from Tokyo and neighboring areas had made 197 adoption applications between them.
In separate cases, about 50 men and women made a total of 248 applications, according to the police.
On Nov. 26, the Chiba prefectural police arrested a man in connection with the allegedly illegal resale of mobile phones purchased by signing contracts under different surnames obtained through multiple adoptions.
Initially, the planned system will likely target cases in which multiple adoption applications have been filed within a short period. Legal affairs bureau personnel will examine the application history of the people who have filed the documents, and question the designated prospective adoptive parents and children.
Also subject to scrutiny will be cases in which submitted documents indicate a change in the permanent addresses of the prospective parents or children. The legal affairs bureaus will seek information from the local governments with jurisdiction over the previous addresses.
If it cannot be confirmed that the people named as prospective parents in an adoption application are truly seeking that status, the legal affairs bureaus will ask the local government concerned to reject the application.
(Dec. 21, 2010)