Child Guidance Centres in Japan by Michael Rivera King

Author:Michael Rivera King [King, Michael Rivera]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Anthropology, General, Sociology, Children's Studies, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9780429773297
Google: nA0HEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2020-10-25T05:04:37+00:00

Despite these arguments, some politicians considered this threshold too low and, when debated, the possibility that it would be raised after legislation was passed was offered (Tokunaga, 2012). Tokunaga herself argues that this threshold should be raised so that adoption can play a greater role in alternative care (2012).33

The age threshold also matches the distinction between toddler and juvenile in the Child Welfare Act. The distinction made here and by Hosokawa has permeated practice. In the CGCs children are often labelled by school grade rather than age. The institutionalisation of this transition age into adoption legislation may have contributed to the age threshold until which children are understood as being able to make a family-bond. The possible impact of this on the use of foster care is explored in the following section, after a brief discussion on normal adoption and the adoption rate.

From the age of 15, a youth may be ‘adopted’ into a family without parental consent under the normal adoption system.34 Normal adoption here is ‘a contract between consenting adults… The adoptee, usually an adult male, agrees to carry forwards his new family’s name in return for an inheritance’ (Mehrotra et al., 2013: 842).

Where the adopter is the child’s grandparent or step-parent ‘normal adoption’ can occur, under Civil Code 798, before the child turns 15 years old. In 2004 there were 83,505 adoptions, of which under 0.4 per cent were ‘special adoptions’, with a further 1.2 per cent by grandparents or step-parents under ‘normal adoption’ legislation (Mehrotra et al., 2013: 842).35 The remaining 98.4 per cent of ‘adoptions’ were of adults.36

Special adoption extinguishes the existing family-bond (Civil Code Article 817–9). Upon completion of special adoption, a reference to the natal parents’ family register is made on the adopting family register, though the details of the relationship are not listed. In normal adoption, the natal parent and child’s relationship is listed on the family register of the adopting family. Mehrotra et al. (2013: 842) note:

Ordinary adoption sanctifies the voluntary severing of most, but not all, ties to one’s birth parents and their replacement with fealty to new parents. The adoptee may contact his birth parents, and even inherit from them. If the adoptive relationship is disrupted, the adoptee may return to his biological parents.

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