[sak9645]

There are very few agencies in the U.S. that place children from Japan.

The main reason is that very few Japanese children are ever made available for international adoption. Most agencies simply don't have access to enough Japanese children to sustain a successful program with reasonable wait times.

First off, there is a deep seated cultural belief in the "blood tie" (biological kinship), and many Japanese parents would rather leave a child in an orphanage for his/her whole childhood than agree to place him/her with an unrelated person, Japanese or non-Japanese. They simply assume that an unrelated person must be some sort of pervert to want to adopt a child who is not of his/her blood.

Also, Japan is a very prosperous country. In many ways, it is like Western Europe and the English speaking countries. There simply aren't that many children who need new families. In most of the countries of the world that permit international adoption, poverty is the main cause of relinquishment/abandonment. And of course, Japan hasn't had, in recent years, a lot of manmade and natural disasters, such as civil wars, crop failures, and so on, which have rendered children homeless in other countries.

The Japanese also are very willing to take in the children of their relatives, and usually have the resources to do so. In many countries, even if families are willing to take in relatives' children, they may not be able to do so because the same situation that rendered the child parentless has also deprived them of a home, a job, etc.

When Japanese children ARE relinquished for adoption, the Japanese authorities are usually more inclined to approve an adoption by people of Japanese heritage. Agencies know that, even if they do find adoptable children, they'll have a better chance of making a placement if they match those children with Japanese people.

Non-Japanese people living in Japan are often more successful than those living in the U.S. at adopting from Japan, simply because of proximity. They can do the legwork involved in getting to know orphanage directors and other adoption professionals, identifying potentially adoptable children, and going through the process of adoption.

But all is not lost. There are a few American agencies that work with non-Japanese people, and you can also do an adoption using a Japanese agency or lawyer. The website of the U.S. Embassy in Japan lists some well-known and reputable Japanese adoption agencies. You may also try to work with a Japanese attorney. Just remember that Japanese agencies and lawyers may not be familiar with U.S. immigration requirements, so you should have someone working with you on the U.S. end of things, to be sure that your child can get a visa. And always talk to Americans who have used the foreign agency or lawyer, to find out about their experiences.

To find out whether an agency allows gender selection, you will have to contact the agency -- be it American or Japanese. Nowadays, many American agencies are moving away from allowing gender selection for childless people, in a variety of countries. The reason is that Americans overwhelmingly request girls when they choose to adopt. As a result, long waiting lists develop for girls, while boys languish in orphanages and foster homes for unacceptably long periods of time. Gender selection is often allowed for people who have other children, and need to have the children share a bedroom or wish to balance their families.

Overall, given the small number of available Japanese children, the fewer constraints you place on an agency in terms of gender, age, health status, etc., the more likely it is that you will bring home a child in a reasonable time frame. Even if you were to find a good agency that allowed gender selection and worked with non-Japanese families, specifying "healthy infant girl under two years of age" might mean facing a very long wait.

Sharon