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A child of Japan’s baby hatch

#child #Japans #baby #hatch

Inside Koichi Miyatsu’s blue kid-sized backpack are neatly folded cartoon-print sweatshirts and a pair of white sneakers—everything he has before he was abandoned in Japan’s only “baby hatch.”

He was just a toddler when he was taken to the hatch of a hospital in southern Japan’s Kumamoto, where children can be left anonymously by desperate family members.

“These are some of the clothes I was wearing when I was left there,” 18-year-old Miyatsu told AFP.

“They’re the oldest memories I have of my childhood … so I’ve treasured them ever since.”

This year, Miyatsu was the first person in Japan to speak publicly about being abandoned in the hatch, which opened in 2007 and was based on the German model.

His comments reignited debate over a program described by supporters as a last resort for marginalized women, but criticized by opponents for encouraging child abandonment.

For Miyatsu, however, no question.

“The day I was left there was the day a new chapter of my life began,” said the freshman.

“I owe what I am today to the baby hatch.”

The Catholic-run Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto started the program to provide an alternative for those struggling to become parents and who are unable or unwilling to seek formal solutions such as childbirth. B. the delivery of children for foster care.

They argue it can prevent child abuse and even death, and in 15 years 161 babies and toddlers have been left with them.

– “I was there once” –

Shortly after Miyatsu was found sitting blankly in the hatch, he was taken in by Yoshimitsu and Midori Miyatsu in rural Kumamoto.

The couple, parents of five biological children, have also fostered over 30 others and had no hesitation in taking Miyatsu on board.

“I thought an angel had been sent to us,” said Yoshimitsu, 65, recalling Miyatsu’s arrival.

The couple have long supported Jikei’s program, having witnessed firsthand the difficult circumstances of other foster children, including broken families, crime, homelessness and unexpected pregnancies.

“Once a heavily pregnant girl with practically no money came to us on a freezing December day… so we knew there were kids out there who needed a place like this,” said Midori, 63.

Miyatsu was among the first children left at the hatch, and was found with no information about his name, age, or place of birth.

“I have no memory of the moment I was dropped off… but the image of the hatch door is burned into a corner of my brain,” he said.

About a year after his departure, Midori said he saw a photo of the hatch in a newspaper.

“He told us, ‘I was there once.’ We knew then that he remembered.”

– ‘Complicated Feelings’ –

A local official gave him a name, and his age was determined through DNA testing. His beginnings in foster care were tough, with regular nightmares and constant finger sucking.

But the couple never hid their backstory, and over time the trauma faded.

Years later, he learned more about his origins, including that his biological mother died in a car accident five months after he was born.

He keeps a framed picture of her, with curly hair like his, and says he feels like she’s “watching over me from heaven.”

“I would tell her that I’ve turned 18 and that I want to live the life that has been cut short for her.”

Each month, Miyatsu provides free meals to underprivileged children at a local church, and he wants to work with children in the future and maybe become a foster parent as well.

He hopes that telling his story “will pave the way for other kids (left in box) to speak up and get their messages across,” describing his experience of overcoming “complicated feelings about myself.”

“But even if a few pieces are missing, it doesn’t fundamentally change who I am today. I don’t think my identity should be defined by the first few years of my life,” he said.

“Life after the baby hatch is much more important.”

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#child #Japans #baby #hatch

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