Baby Life Room 311, 1-23-6 Sekiguchi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-0014 Phone: +81 3 5579 2154 Fax: +81 3 5579 2155 GY Email: info@babylife.org BABY UPS Website: https://babylife.org Saturday, June 02, 2018 To whom it may concern, 1am writing to clarify the process of inter country adoption from Japan. I am the Chief Director of Baby Life, a non-profit government registered adoption agency in Tokyo. We are authorized to perform domestic and inter country adoptions. This program is for birth parents to place new born infants with adopting parents, both locally and internationally. In Japan, the care and custody of a child is legally transferred to the adoptive parents by the consent of the birthmother. A court order is not used to transfer the care and custody of a baby in Japan. The transfer of care and custody of the baby has occurred from the perspective of Japanese law when the biological parent signs consent to the adoption. The social workers that counsel the birth mothers all have achieved completion of a nationally registered course at institutions of higher education and passed National examinations to become a qualified social worker and they take their work very seriously. Birthmothers are informed of all of the alternatives to inter country adoption, including family support, government support (including child guidance centers), kinship adoption, domestic adoption, and inter country adoption is the last option. The birth parent consents to the adoption and to the child emigrating to Canada. The social worker explains to the birthmother that her parental rights will be terminated upon finalization of the adoption in British Columbia. The birth parent makes the decision that they feel is in their child’s best interest. The baby is transferred to the respective adoptive parents in Tokyo, Japan within a day or two of their arrival in Japan. After that time, the baby remains in the custody of the adoptive parents, they are nurtured and in all respects, become loving, cherished members of their families while they wait for Canada to issue the child’s visa which is required for the family to travel to their Canadian home. The child is then able to travel to British Colombia to finalize the adoptionthere. Once the final adoption order is received, it is recognized by Japan and it is sent to the government and used to change the Koseki (birth family registry). The child is removed from his/her birth family register and a new one is created in his/her name with adoptive parents’ names. This process has been followed for ten years to complete dozens of adoptions form Japan to British Columbia. Baby Life and Japan have a long, positive history facilitating inter country adoptions with Canadian Citizens. Our organization is registered with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, under the supervision of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and our registration is listed at the website of the Ministry (http://www.mhIw.go.jp/file/06-Seisakujouhou-11900000- Koyoukintoujidoukateikyoku/0000202405.pdf). We are overseen and audited by the Metropolitan Government of Tokyo. ‘We meet with our regulatory body in Tokyo and have an inspection on annual basis. In addition, the government conducts random inspections periodically. We also meet with other registered adoption agencies, a number of times per year to discuss adoption matters. I understand that there may be some misinformation about the process of inter country adoption from Japan. To clarify, a court order is not required in Japan to transfer care and custody of a child for the purpose of adoption to Canada, the transfer is legally based on the birthmother's signed consent toadoption. Ihave personally contacted with the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, and the Metropolitan Government of Tokyo to verify if they have made any statements or changed the process for inter country adoption. They assured me that they have not made any statements and there have been no changes to the laws or procedures with respect to inter country adoption to Canada. Baby Life looks forward to its continued positive relationships with authorized adoption agencies in Canada. Sincerely, Yasutomo Shinozuka Chief Director Baby Life