International Social Service Japan (ISSJ) - Offering compassionate support to create a society where everyone is free to be who they truly are -

Ms. Ishikawa

ISSJ was preceded by the Japan-America Joint Committee for the Assistance of Orphans, which was established after World War II in 1952, with the goal to help with the intercountry adoption of children born between soldiers of U.S. troops stationed in Japan and Japanese women, primarily to families in the United States. Becoming in 1955 the Japanese branch of the International Social Service (ISS), a worldwide NGO working for child welfare with headquarters in Geneva, the organization started to offer international social welfare assistance on a full scale. Upon accredited in 1959 by Ministry of Health and Welfare, the International Social Service Japan (ISSJ) became a social welfare corporation and has been conducting its activities ever since. The organization has been engaged in the area of social work with responding to changing social needs. For example, in the late 1970's ISSJ began to support Indo-Chinese refugees in cooperation with the UNHCR, and in the 1980's offered support to the rapidly increasing numbers of immigrants to Japan. Currently our staff includes social workers having expertise concerning international social work and foreign staff from the Philippines and Thailand. We offer compassionate support to anyone seeking counselling in collaboration with other stakeholders such as lawyers, embassies, child guidance centers, health centers, hospitals, schools, ethnic communities, etc., as well as other branches of ISS.

Ms. Ishikawa

"Adoption support" and "Assistance for children and families with foreign background " are the two principle activities. Regarding adoption support, the starting point of ISSJ's activities, in addition to offering support to Japanese families or foreign residents hoping to adopt children from baby or children's homes in Japan, we provide post-adoption services such as roots findings when requested. To assist children and families with foreign background we provide information or consultation on life in host society, home visits, or counseling to assure that refugees and immigrants residing in Japan can live in peace and safe as community members, and also extend help to stateless children to restore their nationality, and offer assistance to facilitate visitation between child(ren) and a parent who live separately after breakup of international marriage.

Ms. Ishikawa

ISSJ receives more than 6,000 inquiries or requests for consultations per year (results for last year) and the situations of persons seeking help becomes ever more diverse and their requests more complex and complicated. Previously a social worker specialist in one field could assume a case based on a particular situation, such as support in the daily life of immigrants, assistance with restoring nationality, or adoption. But recently, support has needed to be more integrated, that is, requiring several social workers to work together to pool their expertise.

Ms. Enomoto

For example, in the case of an expecting woman without a partner, though we give maximum priority to providing a safe birth, we must also consider the next step depending on the situation of the mother: whether she will care for her baby alone in Japan or return to her country; whether the mother can have support from relatives in Japan or in her native country; whether adoption should be considered; and what will be the nationality of the baby or applicable laws and customs in her native country. In order to offer satisfactory assistance to each person coming to consult with us there are myriad things we must review and do.

Ms. Enomoto

If a foreign woman without a Japanese partner gives birth in Japan, the baby cannot be a Japanese national. Therefore, if her country's embassy or consulate in Japan is not informed of the birth so that the baby may acquire the mother's nationality, the baby will become stateless. When the birth is registered in a municipal office in Japan, the nationality of the mother will be annotated on the resident card and resident certificate of the baby, and as a consequence it is possible that a person may not realize that she/he is stateless until her/his passport application, job search, marriage or such.

Ms. Ishikawa

It is difficult to imagine the problems a stateless person can encounter, but this is very serious for the individual as they have lost rights which they should naturally be guaranteed. ISSJ undertakes the necessary procedures in consultation with specialized lawyers to obtain nationality. In addition to the support requests ISSJ receives from stateless people, there are increasing number of inquiries by municipal offices offering public assistance and support to victims of domestic violence as well as by child guidance centers and children's' homes when they encounter a stateless person.

Ms. Ishikawa

Since the worsening of the pandemic at the beginning of April there were increased inquiries on food bank in our office due to food insecurity, and through a subsidy we were able to offer food assistance by sending boxes of vegetables and rice to refugee communities. Many people told us they were no longer able to rely on their friends who had been supporting them because they too were experiencing difficulties, and we realized that the mutual aid network of the ethnic community was damaged due to the corona pandemic. In addition, because schools were closed at the beginning of March and the burden of education fell onto households, we launched an educational assistance program for children of refugees and asylum seekers unable to teach their children in Japanese and/or who lacked an adequate online study environment at home. With funds provided by foundations and companies, we rent Wi-Fi routers and computers for needy families and our volunteers help the children with online study.

Ms. Enomoto

Though unclear whether or not associated with the corona virus, since the spring of this year the number of assistance requests from foreign women relating to pregnancy and childbirth has increased. I believe they could not find anywhere else to turn because many of operations in the society were paralysed due to the state of emergency. We offer them compassionate help to assure them a hospital, preparations for the birth, completion of the necessary paperwork after childbirth and an atmosphere of peace and inclusion to raise their baby.

Ms. Enomoto

ISSJ would like to improve the assistance it offers to adoptive families and plans to launch an exclusive website for it. ISSJ helps adopted children and/or adoptive parents find biological parents, however for people adopted through an organization other than ISSJ there exists few records and there are only a few cases where we were able to locate the biological parents. In order to protect the right of the adopted child to know his/her origins, it is necessary that we establish a solid methodology of the support required after an adoption.

Ms. Ishikawa

Starting in November we plan to present an online seminar, Counselling Assistance for Children and Families with foreign background. Invited experts will lecture on the basics necessary to support foreign residents and present some case studies from recent consultations. The seminar is divided into 4 sessions, but one-time only participants will be accepted, and we hope the participation of people from child welfare or other organizations providing support to foreign residents as well as persons interested in issues of children with foreign roots and their families.