Kyung Lah: Japan “lacks sufficient medical services for disabled children”
CNN’s Kyung Lah has a new article up about child custody disputes in Japan. This time, she has placed focus on an American man whose Japanese-Brazilian wife left him with their disabled son while Japanese courts have allegedly ignored his attempts to obtain joint-custody of the couple’s daughter:
In Japan, a country that lacks sufficient medical services for disabled children, the only person to care for Spencer is his father. Morrey says his wife left, overwhelmed by the strain of their son’s medical condition.
That would be pain beyond what most parents could imagine. But Spencer’s mother fled while pregnant with Morrey’s daughter, Amelia. In more than a year, Morrey says he has only seen his daughter four times.
“She wouldn’t recognize me,” Morrey said, with Spencer propped on his lap. “She wouldn’t call me daddy. She’s just starting to talk now. But she’s not going to know who I am. I think she deserves my love. And I think she deserves to be with Spencer and Spencer deserves to be with her.”
Morrey, a native of Chicago and a U.S. citizen, was married to a Japanese woman of Brazilian descent. They divorced in a Japanese court.
Under Brazilian law, Morrey would likely have joint custody and guardianship of both children.
But in Japan, where only one parent gets custody of a child in a divorce, the family courts have left the case in legal limbo for a year because they have not decided which parent legally has custody of the children. Typically, the parent with physical custody of a child retains custody.
Considering the numerous factual problems found in Kyung Lah’s previous reports, it’s hard to say much about the legal aspects of this case.
The one phrase that really caught my attention in the article was her declaration that Japan is “a country that lacks sufficient medical services for disabled children.” Normally, one would expect a professional journalist writing such a strong statement would be required to provide some examples of how Japan’s medical services for disabled children are lacking, but Lah does not. She moves on with the story as if the statement is so obvious that it needs no explanation.
I was generally under the impression that the Japanese government provides financial support to families with disabled children. The WHO’s general ranking of healthcare systems place Japan far ahead of the United States, but it is possible that the United States offers more money and medical services for disabled children. Would that make Japan’s medical services insufficient?
[hat tip to Mozu]
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