In an effort to reduce the number of abortions and children abandoned,

Japan’s Catholic Church has instituted a baby drop off service. That’s right - Japanese parents now have a get out of jail free card in the form of a plastic drop off box stationed outside of a hospital that allows them to leave their children if the burden of parenthood is too much for them to bear. After a 3 year old boy was found in a bin, fears that the program was open to abuse began to surface.The thought that a child can be placed in a plastic bin, much the same way we place unwanted clothes in a bin for distribution to the homeless, is shocking. This is system operates much like the adoption process, only more anonymity for the parents. Are parents really that ashamed to give up their children that it prevents them from doing so? Is the actual adoption process so daunting that it prevents parents from doing it to such a large degree that this will make a difference? This is a program like this is ripe for abuse. How many times have you wanted to get rid of something but where afraid what would happen to it, and in worrying keep it, and in keeping it are glad. Parents in America threaten that they will give their young children to a band of traveling gypsies if they aren’t good, will parents in

Japan threaten to put their children in the drop box, and how many times will they follow through with it?People are often times victims of their emotions. When you have the means to act on those emotions there is often a deep sense of remorse, even if the act is something as simple as calling someone names. There are potentially two victims in the case of the drop-off service, with deep emotional wounds. Though the children are too young to know what is happening at the time, they will still find out in the future. In the current adoption system the child and parent can, and often do, find ways to reconnect in the future. This system eliminates the possibility of that. There is no paperwork to document hereditary health risks and bloodlines, intelligence or even chemical dependency problems and a nameless child.