Sharp adoption age limit hike eyed

Jiji Press

TOKYO (Jiji Press)— The Justice Ministry has presented the Diet with a set of bills to expand the special adoption system to cover children under 15 years old, up from the current basic age limit of under 6.

The first revision of the system since its introduction in 1988 is aimed at helping children lacking proper care due to reasons such as abuse and poverty, according to ministry officials.

The special adoption system terminates legal ties between adopted children and their biological parents. The consent of the children is not required, and the names of their birth parents are erased from their official family registries.

But there are many hurdles to adoption under the special system. For example, the consent of biological parents is required and at least one of the adopting parents must be 25 years or older.

As a result, a total of 298 adoption arrangements made by child counseling centers or private concerns were blocked in fiscal 2014 and 2015, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said.

The submitted legislation, including for revising the Civil Code, is also designed to allow the special adoption of children aged between 15 and 17 if they agree to be adopted, have been living with those who would become the adoptive parents since before turning 15, and have encountered circumstances that prevented the filing of their adoption by that age. The exceptional adoption is in line with the Civil Code, which calls for respecting the will of people aged 15 or older.

Birth parents are currently allowed to retract their consent for adoption until a family court ruling. The revised system, if approved by the Diet, will give them only two weeks to withdraw consent in a bid to help children and their new parents develop their relationships.

Under the existing system, adoption filings are submitted to family courts by those applying to become the adoptive parents. To reduce the mental stress often felt by the prospective parents if the birth parents do not agree to their children’s adoption, the revised system would allow the heads of child counseling centers to file for adoption.

It would also separate court procedures for deciding whether to permit the special adoption of children from those for judging the prospective parents’ capacity to raise children. Adoptive parents would be allowed to participate only in the second process.

Over the past five years, 500 to 600 adoption arrangements have been approved per year, according to the Supreme Court.

With the welfare ministry aiming to increase the number to 1,000, the Legislative Council, an advisory panel to the justice minister, started seven-month deliberations in June 2018 to revise the special adoption system.

A rise in the age limit for adoption was the biggest focal point. When the panel of experts solicited public opinion on the three options of under 8, 13 and 15 years old, many people called for offering as many opportunities for adoption as possible.Speech

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