The Diet on Friday passed a revision to increase the upper age limit at which a child can be adopted under a special system that allows ties to their biological parents to be severed.
Formerly, children's ties to their biological parents could only be cut before the age of 6, but under the revised law children 14 and younger are now eligible.
The special adoption program is aimed at providing a stable, nurturing environment for children who cannot be raised by their biological parents because of economic difficulties or a history of abuse in the home.