A potential criminal complaint against the Unification Church over adoption arrangements among its followers will likely not be filed with the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry for the time being.
The ministry concluded that it would be difficult to show a violation of the Adoption Mediation Law.
The ministry was unable to conclude that the religious group - officially called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification - was engaged in mediation because information was not obtained from those who had adopted children from other followers in the past three years. The statute of limitations prohibits prosecution of cases older than that.
The ministry took into account the fact that the group has abided by administrative guidance.
The law went into effect in April 2018, prohibiting mediation businesses from operating without permission from prefectural governors. The Unification Church did not receive this permission, but a number of adoptions were carried out between its followers.
The ministry launched an investigation last November, suspecting that the group may have engaged in unauthorized mediation of adoptions. The group said 31 children were adopted after the law became effective.
The ministry asked the Unification Church to show the names and dates of birth of the adoptive parents in the 31 cases, but the group refused. The group denied that it was involved in organized mediation, but it admitted that it had requested that its followers submit adoption arrangement application forms in those cases.
Older adoptees gave testimony to the ministry, such as that they were used as tools for the group's religious principles. The ministry has so far not received testimony from adoptive parents who adopted children during a recent period when a criminal complaint would be possible, and the possibility that they will be able to get testimony from them in the future is not clear.
The ministry discussed the matter with the investigative authorities, but negative opinions toward the filing of a criminal complaint were heard from the investigative side. The actual situation of mediation by the group is not clear as adoptive parents or biological parents have yet to be identified. It is hard to judge whether there was malicious intent. The ministry sent a letter of administrative guidance to the group on January 23 and requested that expressions in its publications be revised in an appropriate manner in order to be perceived as the group presenting itself as an intermediary for adoption.
The revised publications were sent to the ministry, which included a request for its followers to report to the group after an adoption arrangement is agreed upon.
A statement - Families with many children have a responsibility to share them - was removed from the publications.
The ministry apparently judged that it is difficult to file a criminal complaint against the group based on these developments. The ministry will take action, including filing a complaint, if the actual situation of the mediation becomes clear, a ministry official said.