2010 Volume 50 Issue 4 Pages 96-107
Non-relative placements such as adoption and foster family care are traditional customs in Japan. However, this custom is not viewed as being a kind of foster family care and adoption or as the groundwork for foster family care and adoption. This is due to the belief that this custom has the inherent risk of threatening the well-being of children. In this study, the possibility of retaining the custom of providing protective care of children is explored by investigating the concept of the "protection of foster and adoptive children" as envisioned during the latter half of Taisho era, when the child protection policy was introduced. The target of the "protection of foster and adoptive children" is the group of children who are exposed to the risk of abuse in the absence of the intervention by any special facility or related family. It also aims to effect improvements in the situations where children are victims of unsuitable surroundings or conflicting interests of the adopter. On the other hand, the "protection of foster and adoptive children" had the possibility of maintaining the legacy of providing protection to children in the form of foster care. However, this possibility was not realized and "protection of foster and adoptive children" was not institutionalized, either.
