This post is a DeepL translation (partially revised by the blog administrator) of the following article.
本投稿は以下の記事のDeepL翻訳（一部、管理人修正済み）です。
Unification Church "Adoption" of the Second Generation: What was the purpose of my birth?
NHK
November 15, 2022 6:30 p.m. Posted
Close-Up Today has reported on a number of issues concerning the Unification Church. The report includes "high donations," "human rights of the second generation of religious believers," and so on. Currently, the Diet is debating a bill to provide relief to the victims.
Furthermore, information received by our reporter from inside the cult has revealed a "new problem". It is about the "adoption" of children of believers. It is suspected that the cult is actively encouraging families who have had children to give their children up for an adoption to families who have not had children.
The team met with actual "second-generation religious people" who were adopted. During the lengthy interview, they shared their experiences of struggling with the meaning of their own existence, wondering if they had been born as a tool of a religious doctrine.
◆ Why was I the only adopted child...? Struggle of the 2nd Generation
Ms. Youjiyo (pseudonym, female in her 20s) is a former believer who agreed to be interviewed. She still lives with her mother, who is a believer, and her father, who has left the church. Her parents have had a difficult relationship ever since she can remember, and now they only try to communicate with each other through her. Youjiyo hopes to leave home in the near future. However, due to financial difficulties, she is unable to rent a room to live alone.
The "parents" she lives with are her "foster parents," while her "birth parents" are other people.
Youjiyo was put up for an adoption by her parents, who were members of the Unification Church, shortly after she was born. She was four years old when she learned that she was adopted.
Youjiyo-san:
"When I asked them with the curiosity of a child, "How was I born?" They told me, "You are from a different family". I later found out that I had three other siblings, and that somehow I had been separated from my real family and sent to a different family. When I asked myself why I was the only one who had to be adopted, I felt that something was wrong with me and I was abandoned."
◆ Wasn't I born as a tool of doctrine?
Japanese law states that the adoption of a minor child must be in the best interest of the child.
However, a book describing the teachings of the Unification Church stated, "Sharing [children] with families without children is responding to God's desire," and "the Unification Church adoptions are done with God's heart at the center, unlike adoptions done in general."
Furthermore, the Church encourages adoptions by giving awards to believers who give their own children for adoptions. As Youjiyo-san grew older, she began to wonder if she had been born as a tool of the cult's doctrine, and she began to struggle with the meaning of her existence.
Youjiyo-san:
"It is just a thing, literally. A thing used to accomplish a doctrine. Anyway, in the Unification Church, we are told to have as many children as possible, and when we have many children, we are told to have those children adopted for other couples who cannot have children. I can only think that I am being used because they do not have children to make children happy, but to make their parents and, by extension, the church happy. Who am I, why am I here, what am I doing, what am I living for...? I became more and more confused."
Youjiyo, who had lost the meaning of her existence, tried to take her own life away three years ago. Later, at the hospital where she was taken, her adoptive mother's words drove her further into a corner.
Youjiyo:.
"The first thing she said to me was, 'If you commit suicide, you will go to hell'. In the Church, it is said that if a person commits suicide, he or her family will go to hell. I felt the horror of brainwashing, thinking like 'Yeah, you can say that in a situation like this'. It was like a "family game" in which only the form of the doctrine was achieved, or a relationship like a family without any substance. The situation was a living hell for me.
◆ Problems as Seen by Experts
According to the church's handbook published in 2014, the church has established rules for its members to systematically manage adoptions, such as the requirement to report to the Family Education Department "whenever an agreement is reached between two families. In addition, according to former church members, an organization called the "Family Department" at the Church headquarter took the lead in soliciting adoption applications through the local church family departments, and the headquarter "matched" the applications.
Experts point out that the Unification Church is suspected of violating the law by engaging in unlicensed "mediation" of adoptions, which requires a license from the prefectural governor.
Professor Masayuki Tanamura of Waseda University School of Law (a member of the Study Group on the National Adoption System)
"There is a possibility that this issue may violate the Child Welfare Law, the Civil Code, and the Adoption Mediation Law, so we would like the government to conduct a fact-finding survey.
In general, there is no problem for religious organizations to obtain a license for "mediation business" for the welfare of children for charitable purposes or as part of their religious activities, and to do so legally. However, the Unification Church's act this time is to move children from a family with many children to a family with no children, just among its followers. Formally, they may be talking about the interests of the children, but they are not saying, 'If you don't have children, you don't have a complete family. Love is not complete without children.' I believe that mediation has been conducted from a very adult and organizational perspective. I feel that this is a very big problem here.
If adoption is done from a doctrine-first perspective among believers, it may create pressure to force the child to be adopted. Will there be a conflict of interest because we cannot make a neutral and fair decision as to whether the adoption is necessary for the child? Wouldn't such a barter act between believers to achieve the ideal family be different, in terms of the welfare of the child?"
◆ The Church's side of the argument
The Unification Church responded to NHK's interview, stating that the birth in 1981 was the first record of a child being adopted and that 745 adoptions have taken place to date.
He then stated the following.
▼Question
During this interview, several cases were identified in which believing families who had never met each other were matched through the church, and adoptions took place. The lawyer pointed out that "this is an act of adoption agency. Has the church obtained a license from the prefectural governor with jurisdiction over the location of the business office in accordance with the "Law Concerning Protection of Children through Adoption Mediation by Private Mediation Agencies"?
▼Anser
"The adoption system conducted by our organization is different in nature from that of private agencies, and we do not receive any financial compensation from them (for these reasons, we are not licensed as a private agency).
In the last 20 years, the adoption system has shifted from one in which the church is involved to one in which adoptions are conducted between families who wish to adopt.
▼Question
Several experts, including lawyers and former judges, have pointed out that the parents are taught that they have a "mission and responsibility" to adopt, and that they are encouraged to make a commitment to adopt before conception (pregnancy with the assumption that the child will be adopted), and that the adoption is for the parents' faith and not for the welfare of the child. Furthermore, they point out that it is suspected to be contrary to the purpose of the minor adoption system and the special adoption system. It is also pointed out that the adoption is suspected to be in violation of Article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Child Welfare Law. What is the Church's position on this issue?
Several 2nd generations who were given to other families as adopted children have reported the pain of having their human rights violated, saying that they were born as tools of religion when they learned of their origins. What is the Church's response to this?
▼Anser
The adoption process between the believers of our church is carried out through close interaction between the family offering the child for adoption and the family accepting the child, and is carried out in the hope that the second generation of adopted children will be happy. Furthermore, in families that are not blessed with children, the desire to have children has nothing to do with religious belief or non-belief. Nevertheless, your question regarding adoption, which is generally and legally recognized and practiced, as if the adopted child is a "tool of religion" only if the child is adopted by a believer of our organization, is in itself discriminatory and extremely unfair, and the programming policy of your Broadcasting itself is biased and unforgivable and promotes discrimination. Even if there are 2nd generation believers adopted children who believe in this way, if you report on them as if they are all the same, it will lead to all children born through adoption among our believers being regarded as "tools of religion" by the public, which may lead to serious human rights violations. This is a serious violation of human rights. We urge you to stop this kind of biased and discriminatory reporting."
◆ The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's position
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, which is in charge of the adoption system, responded to our interview as follows.
"Adoption mediation is the act of acting as a third party to mediate between parents and children to ensure that the adoption takes place smoothly.
It is required to obtain a license from the prefectural government if it is to be performed repeatedly and continuously as a 'business' for a certain purpose, regardless of whether or not it involves remuneration."
◆ Can we save the second generation who can't say "help"?
Youjiyo, who was adopted by another believer family from her own parents, complains that she does not want the adoption process, in which the doctrines of the cult take precedence over the happiness of the child, to continue any longer.
Youjiyo-san:.
"I think the adoption system itself is really a wonderful system. However, I think it is wrong to use the adoption system only to achieve religious teachings, and it is quite contrary to the principles of the adoption system, so I hope that these misfortunes will end with our second generation."
While Youjiyo has faint hopes for the "relief for victims" of the Unification Church, which is currently under discussion, she is watching the bill's debate, wondering if there might be some difficulties for the "second generation of religion" as well.
Youjiyo:.
"I think there are a lot of 2nd generations who can't rely on others. I think most of them can't ask for help when they are in trouble. It would be ideal if we could create an environment and a world that would not let that happen. I wonder when such a place will actually become available.... To be honest, I don't know right now. I really think that it will be more difficult than we think to provide concrete relief for the second generation.
◆ Afterword from Report Team
The adoption system is a necessary system for the welfare of children. Some people in the Unification Church say they are leading happy lives as a result of their adoptions. This issue may not fall under the provisions for damage in the bill now being debated in the Diet, but I believe that a survey of the actual situation is required first.
When Youjiyo responded to our interview, I was impressed by the way she said, "I want to prevent others from feeling the same way by sharing my own experience". She also said, "Even though I left the Unification Church more than ten years ago, I might have spent my whole life as if the tag of the Unification Church had always been attached to me and stuck with me."
Like Youjiyo, I believe that there are still many "buried victims" out there.
We hope that one day they will be able to live their own lives in the true sense of the word.
