Child Guidance Center records
If your adoption was established on the basis of foster care placement by the Child Guidance Center, you may wish to inquire with the Child Guidance Center in your jurisdiction to see if there are any records remaining from that time.
Medical Institution Records (Medical Records)
The Maternal and Child Health Handbook is issued by the municipality. There are sections in the handbook meant for recording the child’s growth, development, immunizations, etc., from pregnancy to childbirth, to before the child enters elementary
school. Some parents may have filled in how their pregnancy was going, kept a record of their pregnancy checkups, etc., in their Maternal and Child Health Handbook.
Medical Institution Records (Medical Records)
The medical institution where the birth mother gave birth preserves its records from before and after childbirth in the form of medical records. Medical institutions are required by law to preserve medical records for five years (Article 24, Medical Practitioners’ Act). In the case of special adoptions, the medical records of the birth mother are often not disclosed due to the restrictions placed by the Act on the Protection of Personal Information, even if the adopted child or adoptive parents request their disclosure.
In addition, “Points to Keep in Mind Regarding the Preservation of Records and Provision of Information to Children Adopted through Adoption Mediation by Private Mediation Agencies ” (No. 0326-1, Children and Families Agency), states that while the obtaining of personal information requiring special consideration (Article 2, Paragraph 3, Act on the Protection of Personal Information ), such as those regarding disabilities, health problems, and medical history, generally requires the consent of the individual in question (Article 17, Paragraph 2, same Act), in cases where a private mediation agency obtains personal information requiring special consideration directly from the individual, in writing or verbally, etc., in an appropriate manner, the fact that the individual concerned provided such information is interpreted as the individual having given their consent for the business operator handling the personal information to obtain this information.