The Tokyo metropolitan government is confirming the safety of children who were to be adopted through a private Tokyo-based agency that suddenly suspended its business in July last year, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
Baby Life, based in Bunkyo Ward, was launched in 2009 and had mediated the adoptions of more than 300 children. Its sudden closure could have an impact if the children try to find out about their birth families once they grow up.
According to the metropolitan government, Baby Life matched 298 children with adoptive families from fiscal 2012 to 2018 alone. It had received a large amount of fees until just before suspending its business.
In principle, child consultation centers and private agencies arrange adoptions for children aged under 15. In Japan, the adoption agency law went into effect in April 2018, stipulating that agencies concerned must obtain authorization from local governments, instead of just registering with municipalities as before. The law also requires agencies to strive to continue to support the children and their parents after mediation.
Baby Life applied for authorization from the Tokyo metropolitan government in September 2018. During the period when its business was technically suspended until permission was granted, the agency was allowed to continue operating without a license as a "transitional measure."
According to the Tokyo metropolitan government, Baby Life notified it around July 1-2, 2020, that it was withdrawing its license application. The government confirmed the safety of three children and two pregnant women who had been entrusted to a medical institution by Baby Life.
In late June last year -- shortly before the application was withdrawn -- Baby Life matched an infant with adoptive parents, receiving 2.7 million yen in commission. According to sources, the agency's business situation had been deteriorating since last spring.
The Tokyo metropolitan government asked Baby Life to explain to the city government and adoptive parents its reasons for withdrawing the application, as well as to hand over to the city documents on the children and their biological mothers.
In response, Baby Life sent a cardboard box containing 394 documents, including family registers and residence certificates, to the metropolitan government in August. However, it thereafter refused contact and the whereabouts of the agency's male representative are unknown. Baby Life also has not responded to requests for additional data.
The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Japan is a party, stipulates that "The child shall have, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents."
A lawyer whose name was on the list of Baby Life's directors told The Yomiuri Shimbun: "I resigned from the board last May, but I feel a moral responsibility for causing a great deal of trouble for adoptive parents and biological parents. The representative should explain, but I don't know where he is."
The adoption agency law was enacted in December 2016 to eliminate unscrupulous for-profit agencies. With the introduction of a license system, agencies must have a solid business foundation and a trustworthy reputation in order to obtain permission to operate from prefectural governments and other authorities. Penalties are also stipulated for those that operate without a license. According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, 22 agencies were licensed across the country as of November last year.
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