Japan’s laws have changed. Now your society must also

The Japanese government finally relented. It took decades of pain, separation and despair, but laws were passed Friday that will give parents the right to have joint custody of their children for the first time.

Dozens of Australian parents and children have been trapped in this cruel and outdated system. There are 89 Australian children who have been kidnapped by their Japanese parents and missing since 2004.

They have been protected by a legal system that rewarded Japanese parents for being the first to kidnap a child and then gave them complete control over their child’s life.

Ask Catherine Henderson, a Melbourne mother struggling to catch a train without thinking about the two children who were taken from her while she was at work in 2019.