ABSTRACT
In attempting to prioritise placements with Japanese Christians the organization is faced not only with low numbers but also with restrictive prior preferences; some prospective parents will even specify the blood group the child should have. Sometimes the agency places children who do not fulfil the prior stipulations of Japanese adoptive parents on a trial basis. According to the director, a child
placed on trial had never been returned. As she put it: ‘Before [meeting a child] parents have lots of requirements. Afterwards they have any child, blue, green…’. Like other adoption agencies, the organization has found a strong prior preference for girls amongst Japanese adoptive parents, but, as things have turned out, about two-thirds of the children it has placed have been boys. This statistical anomaly is interpreted as God’s will. The boys, because of their sex, are seen as potential future leaders who will either grow up in or return to Japan and convert their compatriots to Christianity.26
