Special Adoption in Japan: Its Problems and Prospects

About 400 children in need in Japan are placed in a "special adoption" each year. The modest numbers are partly the result of a cultural predisposition to think of adoption in terms of family lineage, which discourages the adoption of nonrelatives or children of "bad blood." Special adoption is also limited by concerns over the confidentiality of family registers, by a heavy reliance on institutional care, and by a narrowly defined concept of an "ideal child." The limited professional organization of adoption services in Japan makes national reform difficult. However, some adoption agencies have made local efforts to increase placements by avoiding institutional care or assisting in maintaining confidentiality. Potential parents have also been encouraged to extend their idea of an acceptable child in trial placements, and some children have been placed with mixed couples and foreign residents.