Many of the ISSJ’s prospective adoptive children live in infant homes or children’s homes. We are seeking prospective adoptive parents who will welcome these children warmly and raise them in loving homes, in lieu of the children’s birth parents. Here at ISSJ, our top priority with regards to adoption support is the welfare of the child in need of a home. We will watch over the birth of the new family, and provide long-term support for their subsequent steps in life.
- The Adoptive Parents We Look for
- Registration requirements
- Adoption Procedure
- Adoption Service Fee
- After Adopting a Child
- Previous Adoption Cases
- Group Orientation
- Q & A
The Adoptive Parents We Look for
Adoption provides children an opportunity to grow up in a loving family. Children have already experienced great loss and sorrow since they were separated from birth parent, and left institution where they have felt like home. That is why we look for adoptive parents who are open-minded and able to give feeling of safe and therapeutic support to children, and our prospective adoptive parents are expected to have qualities as below:
- Having enough stamina and energy for bringing up children
- Able to control over their own feelings and emotions
- Accepting trauma or attachment disorder children may have
- Giving consideration to children’s subconscious mind
- Keeping psychosocial distance with children
- Looking at the positive side and giving words of praise to children
- Having a sense of humor
- Good at time management
- Being creative
- Setting an appropriate target
- Understanding the importance of children’s identity
- Supportive when children try to search their roots
- Able to face the issue of gender or sexuality
- Ready to be a healing parent
- Accepting children as they are
- Able to seeking help to others and use support resources
Registration requirements
Please check before applying for orientation.
- Couples having at least three years stable marital relationship
- Financially capable
- Not on fertility treatment
- Age difference between both of the applicants and children shall be under 45 years at the time of placement.
- If the the prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) have their own birth child(ren), the youngest one shall be 1-year old or over.
- If the PAPs have other adopted child(ren), their adoption procedure must be completed.
- They have to reside in Japan another three years from the time of application.
*Since the Adoption Agency Act was enacted in 2018, intercountry adoption is considered as a last resort.Under such circumstances, in principle, we don’t place a child to prospective adoptive parents who reside overseas.
Adoption Procedure
On average, it takes six months to a year from application to registration. Detailed information on the procedure and process is provided at the group orientation.
Adoption Service Fee
Training fee: 40,000 JPY (+20,000 JPY for interpretation, if necessary)
Adoption procedure cost: 935,000 JPY(+100,000JPY for services in English)
Total: 975,000 JPY
※price revision, 2024/4/1
Breakdown of Service Fee
| Item | Content | Fee | |
| Training fee for the PAPs *Requisite under the law | Lectures and seminars | 20,000 JPY | Date and time are given accordingly. |
| On-site training (at baby home, etc.) | 20,000 JPY | ||
| Interpretation (if necessary) | 10,000 JPY/ day | ||
| Adoption procedure costs for the PAPs | Orientation | 5,000 JPY | |
| Initial interview | 30,000 JPY | ||
| Home study | 100,000 JPY | ||
| Placement fee (Including petition for adjudication at Japanese family court and post-placement support) | 800,000 JPY (+100,000JPY for services in English) |
Governing law
- Adoption Agency Act 2017
- Civil Code of Japan Article 727 Special Adoption
After Adopting a Child
Telling about adoption
Telling children about their adoption story is a formidable but crucial process for adoptive families. Preserving identity is one of children’s rights stipulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. While growing up, adoptive children may ask about their origin. Adoptive parents should explain just simply and honestly why they and birth parent chose adoption so that children can understand appropriately at their age. Adoption shouldn’t be a secret. It is important to tell the truth in an understandable way repeatedly in order to foster their sound growth.
Life Story Work
Adoption gives a child the opportunity to grow up in a new family. At the same time, however, adopted children can also experience a great sense of loss and grief from being separated from their birth parents and family, and losing the environment they had previously grown up in. Life story work is an effort to help such children look back on past events in their life, establish their own personal history, and understand how their past, present, and future connect. We will work with adoptive parents to figure out the best way to support the adopted child, so that they can feel comfortable reflecting on their own roots.
We also support adoptive parents by providing training and other programs on “telling” and life story work.
Previous Adoption Cases
*The Japanese Fiscal Year begins on April 1st and ends on March 31st.
Placements by fiscal year*
| Fiscal Year | Number of Placements |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 1 |
| 2016 | 1 |
| 2017 | 0 |
| 2018 | 0 |
| 2019 | 1 |
| 2020 | 2 |
| 2021 | 1 |
| 2022 | 1 |
| 2023 | 1 |
| 2024 | 4（5 children） |
*The year shown above is that the adoptive child and PAPs are matched. After a period of adjustment during which they live together, an adoption petition is then submitted to the court. From the moment of matching until the petition is finished at the court, it usually takes one to two years.
Children considered for adoption by the ISSJ
| Adoptee’s age | Background |
|---|---|
| 0~9 years old | ・Premature pregnancy ・Unexpected pregnancy ・Complicated family background (abuse by biological parents, alcoholism, drug use, criminal past, etc. of biological parents) ・Foreign nationality or statelessness ・Development and attachment issues ・Needs of medical care |
*During the group orientation, more information is provided.
Average age of adoptive parents
| 2015-2024（12 cases）Average | 39.8 years old |
Group Orientation
For people who want to know more about ISSJ’s adoption process/policy, we hold an online group orientation session (English)
Date
Japanese Third Tuesday of odd-numbered months（Jan, Mar, May, Jul, Sep, Nov.）AM 10:30 – AM 11:30
English Third Tuesday of even-numbered months（Febrary・April・June・August・Oct・Dec）AM 10:30 – AM 11:30
How to Apply
Please fill in the application form and pay the participation fee of 5,000 yen. After confirming payment, the staff member in charge will contact you by email.
Fee
5,000 JPY
How to Pay
Credit Card, Paypal or Bank transfer
If you have any questions, please contact the ISSJ by email (issj@issj.org) or telephone (03-5840-5711, 10am – 5pm, Mon – Fri).