Joint custody of children after divorce is one of numerous options offered in a rough draft announced July 19 by a Justice Ministry panel on sweeping changes being weighed on the issue of parental authority when marriages fall apart.

The delicate nature of the issue resulted in numerous options being included in the draft cobbled together by a subcommittee under the Justice Ministry’s Legislative Council, which serves as an advisory panel to the justice minister.

The draft was compiled after roughly 18 months of often heated discussions within the subcommittee.

Under Civil Law, parental authority is granted to only one parent after a divorce.

But activists have long clamored for joint parental authority, arguing it is unfair to deprive one parent of the opportunity to meet regularly with his or her children.

However, groups that provide support to single mothers oppose this option on grounds it would leave open the door for abusive parents to continue physically hurting their children and former spouse.

In the absence of a consensus, the draft included both the option of maintaining the current system of only allowing one parent to gain custody as well as considering a legal revision to introduce the possibility of joint custody.

Further discussions will be held on the rough draft with plans to issue an interim proposal by the end of August. Once that is put together, the ministry intends to solicit comments from the public.

Two fundamental obligations are required of the parent granted authority: caring for the child’s daily needs until adulthood is reached and providing a mandatory education as well as handling all financial and legal matters pertaining to the child.

Under the Civil Law, both parents are jointly responsible while they are still married, but only one gains such authority after a divorce.

The rough draft set out two points as fundamental definitions for what could be considered the ideal solution. One is for both parents to hold responsibility for raising their children, while the other calls for every consideration to be given to the best interests of the child.

The draft then included the two parallel options regarding single or joint custody.

Even more options were offered in the event the option of introducing joint custody was taken. One was to have joint custody as the main principle and single custody as the exception, while the other was to have single custody as the main principle and joint custody as the exception.

The draft also suggested a more flexible approach might be needed that did not explicitly define which was the main principle.

More options centered on how to decide which parent would care for the child should joint custody be the outcome. One proposal centered on the need to decide which parent would be the primary care provider, while another left the matter to the parents themselves.

Even more opinions were expressed about which parent would be responsible for managing financial issues arising from a child’s upbringing depending on whether a single primary care provider was chosen or not.

Marriage and divorce statistics illustrate a pressing need to tackle an alarming low level of child support being provided after couples divorce.

While there were 530,000 or so marriages in 2020, there were also about 190,000 divorces the same year. While divorced fathers are obligated to pay child support, a study in fiscal 2016 found that only 24 percent of single-mother households received support. It also showed that only 30 percent of the children of such households met regularly with their fathers.

To address the situation, the rough draft came up with the following proposals: not allowing a divorce to go through unless there was agreement about child support and visitation rights; allowing for automatic child support requests if no agreement is reached between the parents; and clarifying the conditions needed for visitation rights.

Representatives of groups calling for more visitation rights as well as those supporting single mothers are members of the subcommittee.

Norihisa Takeda, who heads the Parents and Children’s Network, strongly supports introducing joint custody.

“Even after a divorce, to the child there is no change in the fact that both are parents,” Takeda said. “The system should be changed to allow for both the father and mother to fulfill their responsibility to care for the child.”

But Chieko Akaishi, who heads the Single Mothers Forum, opposes joint custody on grounds the safety of children cannot be assured.

An online survey by her organization in June and July that received valid responses from 2,500 or so individuals found that 40 percent of the respondents said their ex-spouse had physically abused the child, while only 10 percent said they were in favor of joint custody. Sixty percent wanted single custody.

Akaishi even opposed having the option of choosing joint custody on grounds the power relationship between parents would inevitably lead to the weaker partner being forced to choose joint custody.

(This article was written by Kosuke Tauchi and Satomi Sugihara.)