The city of Izumisano in Japan’s Osaka Prefecture announced on July 27 that it would create a new nyujiin—an infant care institution for children under age 3—for the estimated 40 babies it expects to receive annually. Click to expand Image Hiroyasu Chiyomatsu, mayor of Izumisano in Osaka Prefecture, explains the policy of setting up a “baby hatch,” which enables parents to anonymously leave infants they are unable to care for, May 29, 2025. © 2025 AP Photo The proposed facility is part of an initiative to provide women who decide to give up their newborns with options to do so safely. Izumisano was the first city in Japan to introduce both an anonymous baby drop-off (“baby hatch”), and a confidential birth program, in which mothers' identities are known only to the hospital. Permitting the safe surrender of newborns to the authorities is necessary: of the 48 children killed by abuse in Japan in 2023, 16 did not survive their first day.But the planned new institution is harmful for children and should be dropped. Growing up in a family environment in “an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding,” is a basic right of every child. International human rights law obligates governments to arrange care for children who cannot stay with their parents. Placement in institutions is a measure of last resort. The United Nations Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children emphasize family-based settings especially for those under 3. For newborns, institutions should never be an option, except in rare circumstances such as necessary hospitalization.The science is unambiguous. A 2020 systematic review in The Lancet Psychiatry found institutional care “associated with substantial developmental delays [that are] most prominent in physical growth, brain growth, cognition, and attention; atypical attachments are also seen.” The review noted that “age 6–24 months constitutes an especially sensitive period.” The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN human rights office offer a rule of thumb: three months in an institution costs a young child one month of development.An infant raised by rotating shifts of staff, however kind, never gets what a developing brain needs: a few adults who are consistently there.The Japanese government recognizes this. Its 2017 “New Vision for Social Care” set a target of 75 percent foster placement for children under 3 within five years, from April 2020. In Osaka Prefecture, as of March 2025, just 17 of 110 such children were with families. These numbers do not justify keeping children in institutional care; rather, they highlight the need for authorities to work harder to find families for every child.Izumisano is trying to do the right thing, which means withdrawing the proposed nyujiin.