Japan's Family Law draft outline 家族法制の見直し要綱案

The draft overview of the Japanese Family law document released last week is disappointing. The government appointed committee has been deliberating this topic for 30 meetings since February 2021 and received submissions from the public in February this year. I submitted a response document, along with another Australian parent, Michael Cohen, as did the Australian Government.

What is disappointing about the document is that even though joint custody has been mentioned as an option (when it should be the default), other associated problems such as parental child abduction, fake family violence (DV) claims and enforcement of parenting time (visitation) have not been addressed.

In contrast, child support measures have been strengthened.

If Japan is serious to the concept of ' children first' and taking action based on the best interests of the child, they have a long way to go to improve the current laws and practices and what's written in this document just isn't anywhere near addressing any of the serious issues that this country needs to deal with.