Baby Safe Havens are an adoption-related hot potato of the scalding and scorching variety.
There are who love the idea and lobby long and hard in favor, while others hate everything about Baby Safe Havens and campaign strongly against.
Heated debate about the so called “Baby Moses” laws covers identity loss, babies in dumpsters, abortion alternatives, and more, and emotions rarely run anything but full and furious around the topic.
What is not usually worried about in discussions of Safe Havens in the US, however, it the physical fate of the child … adoption is very likely the outcome, as finding homes for babies is not a difficult thing in America.
Not so in Japan, where a fourth child was recently left in a “baby hatch”, and where the odds of finding new parents are very slim due to a “cultural aversion to adoption” in the country.
New and controversial, the contraption is located at a Catholic-run hospital in southern Japan and consists of a small door in the outside wall of the hospital that opens to a tiny bed. Upon depositing a child, an alarm goes off to let the staff know that there’s a ‘new arrival’. (One of the recent four was three-years-old, by the way.)
Rather than being seen as an option for desperate parents in tragic circumstance, many Japanese view the drop-off as an encouragement for parents to “opt out of their responsibilities”, with this attitude perpetuated by the fact of a prejudice in the country against adoption.
This comes from the top of Japanese society, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a critic of the “baby hatch” … seeing it as encouraging for that “parents opting out of their responsibilities” thing … and his wife, Akie, who reject everything about the idea of adopting.
“There is a feeling that it is somehow natural for children who can’t live with their parents to be in an institution,” said Masaki Takakura, a journalist and author of a book on adoption.
“This is a hangover from the post-war years, when children whose parents had died were rounded up and sent to orphanages.”
In near a reversal of American attitudes, those who adopt in Japan often move immediately afterwards in efforts to hide the fact that their family grew through adoption. Both law and religion contribute to the problem, as Confucianism places great emphasis on biological connections as part of the system on ancestor worship.
Do we need to contemplate the fate of biracial babies, or those with special needs?
Of course, it’s not only the adoptive parents dealing with stigma, but a legal apparatus that involves strict registration and the dishonor that comes to an unwed mother that proves a powerful incentive for women to terminate a pregnancy or abandon a child in hopes that no connection will ever be discovered.
When comparing the present-day situation in Japan with the domestic adoption climate in the US, I’m struck by how completely different cultural approaches to something as natural and potentially joyful as making babies both manage to make a mess of it.
For a look at international adoption from Japan, here’s the US State Department’s page of info. Not an easy process by any means, and with residency requirements, Japan is unfortunately not an option for most hopeful adoptive parents.
I reckon there are pockets of the US with a simular “why would you want to adopt?” attitude, but these things change eventually.
I don’t know how to feel about baby safe havens. Mostly I end up wanting to adopt every single abandoned baby in the world and I just cannot do that.
Ok, that line he said about Japan and Christian values for some reason bugged me…
I don’t see how lack of Christian values has to do with adoption…. *Scoffs over that for some reason I can’t understand*
Actually, babies can be adopted from Japan through adoption agencies that have offices there. The residency requirements only apply if you are trying to do an adoption through one of Japan’s city or ward offices. In those situations, you would “foster with the intent of adoption” for about 6 months so that they city can determine your fitness as a parent. After this, you gain custody and follow through other procedures to make the adoption final. Besides the cost of staying in Japan for 6 months, this is probably a less expensive option because agency fees can be quite costly. I have family in Japan because I am half Japanese, so I will probably move to Japan for a year with my husband adopt that way when the time is right (we are capable of having children, we just prefer adoption).
It’s true that many Japanese people have an aversion to adoption, but there are probably multiple reasons for this. Even my aunt, who became infertile after leukemia, never adopted even though she claims to have wanted children. However, I know one single Japanese woman who adopted a baby boy, and then later married a really cool Japanese man that adopted him also after their wedding.
I think that more people should consider adopting from Japan. Many of the children who grow up in orphanages end up in the Yakuza (organized crime) or in red light districts. There are many reasons why this happens, but basically, it is really difficult to live in Japan without being registered to family that can assist you. Family registration is a big deal in Japan, and if you don’t have this, you’re getting a rough start in life. The Yakuza or other groups make things like getting a job, finding an apt easier because many of these things require family cosigners even when you are an adult.
Bi-racial children and special needs children have an even more difficult time getting adopted and living in Japan is much more difficult. If you don’t look Japanese, you will never be considered Japanese (such as myself).
Things are changing, slowly, but I can’t imagine ever seeing a Japanese family with an adopted Russian baby, for example. Appearances are everything and “sticking out” is a near sin. “A nail that sticks out will be hammered down” is a popular saying.