Plight of Japan's "Tsunami Orphans"

Three months after the disaster, Japan's government is still counting the number of children like Sayaka who have lost either one or both parents. The government estimates 1,200 children lost one parent and 200 lost both. These children will either end up living with distant relatives or place in a Japanese orphanage -- but many orphanages across the nation are at full occupancy.

cnn

Now the real stories of heartbreak and survival start to come out. I haven't seen many stories on herds of roving cats and dogs who are now homeless, like you did with Katrina.

There seem to be few programs in place in any country, for the children who are orhpaned in a catastrophe. Most likely in the US they are put into foster care. But in other countries, I don't know what their protocol is.
Whether it by disaster or a single event, orphans should be taken care of, and not bounced around a system.

Originally posted by nixie_nox

200 lost both. These children will either end up living with distant relatives or place in a Japanese orphanage -- but many orphanages across the nation are at full occupancy.

In America I read about couples waiting years to adopt a child, which kind of left me with the impression that the demand for adoption here exceeds the supply of adoptable kids.

I don't know that much about Japan's culture other than they have a low birth rate. Do they not also have waiting lists of parents wanting to adopt kids? 200 doesn't sound like a huge number for a country the size of Japan, especially considering it won't really even be 200 since some of those will end up with the grandparents, or aunts or uncles or other relatives. So I'm hoping it won't really be a problem to find homes for them and that they won't end up in orphanages or foster homes for too long.