Adoption in Ontario

by Stephanie Stewart, M.A., CCC
Spring 2007

What different types of adoption are offered in Ontario?
Adoptions in Ontario can occur through four avenues, the first three of which will be dealt with in detail in this article (Ministry of Children and Youth Services, 2003).

They are:

Public domestic, through the Children’s Aid Society (CAS).
Private domestic, through a private adoption agency or individual licensed by the Ministry of Children & Youth Services.
International, through an adoption agency licensed by the Ministry of Children & Youth Services.
Relative or step-parent, overseen by the court system. Many of the same rules and regulations for non-relative adoption apply to relative adoption.

For more information on relative and non-relative adoptions, please go to the Ministry of Children and Youth Services website www.children.gov.on.ca.

What are the options for domestic adoption and what are the steps involved?
There are twodomestic options in Ontario. They are public and private. The Ministry of Children and Youth Services is responsible for all Ontario adoptions.

Public Adoptions. Public adoptions are handled by one of 53 Children’s Aid Societies (CAS) across Ontario. Children become available for adoption through the CAS when the birth parents make an adoption plan or when the Court finds that the birth parents are unable to care for the child. Children available through public adoption can be infants, toddlers, older children, sibling groups or children with special needs. In some instances birth parents are involved in the decision as to who will adopt their child (Ministry of Children and Youth Services, 2003). To find the CAS closest to you visit www.oacas.org/.

Steps in public adoption. Your first step in adopting publicly is to contact your local CAS office. An adoption practitioner will contact you and in many areas of Ontario you will be asked to attend an orientation session to find out more about becoming an adoptive parent. If, after your initial consultation and orientation you decide you want to proceed with the adoption process, you will likely be asked to complete an application form and an adoption practitioner (usually a social worker) will be assigned to conduct your home study.

The home study, which is required for both public and private adoptions, includes a series of interviews conducted by your adoption professional in order to educate you about adoptive parenting and to determine if adoption is right for you (AdoptOntario, 2006). This process can take up to two or three months. While the home study is taking place you may be required to attend some kind of training on the issues surrounding adopting and fostering a child (AdoptOntario, 2006). When the home study is complete and you have been approved to adopt, you are considered eligible to parent a child (Ministry of Children and Youth Services, 2004).

In order to complete your home study for both a public and a private adoption, you will also have to provide the following documents:

Medical reports
Proof of marriage, if applicable
Police clearance reports
Child welfare record checks
Home safety checks
Letters of reference from family, friends

Financial statement

(AdoptOntario, 2006)

When a suitable child is identified you will be given the social and medical history of the child and his/her birth family, as well as time to consider the placement. If you decide to move forward with the placement, you, your social worker and your child’s foster parents set up a visitation schedule that will give you and your child time to become familiar with each other. The length of time this takes depends on a number of factors including the age of the child.

Once the child has moved into your home it usually takes up to six months for the adoption to be finalized. Your adoption practitioner will visit regularly throughout this time and help with any difficulties that may arise. When you are ready the CAS applies for an adoption order from the Court and the adoption becomes final.

As a prospective adoptive parent you pay no fees for a public adoption (AdoptOntario, 2006).

Private Adoptions. The Ministry of Children and Youth Services authorizes individuals (called licensees) and licensed agencies to handle private adoptions. In these cases a birth parent may approach a licensee or licensed agency for help with the placement of their child. Children who become available for private adoption tend to be infants.

Go to the Ministry of Children and Youth Services website, www.children.gov.on.cafor a list of approved licensees and agencies in your area.,

Steps in private adoption. If you choose to adopt privately this process usually begins with choosing an adoption practitioner to conduct a home study. Once the home study is completed and approved you would typically prepare a profile (a synopsis of your family and life) that can be presented to birth parents by a licensee or agency. You can then use a variety of avenues to find the potential birth parents of your child. This can include sending your profile to licensees throughout the province or attending the Adoption Resource Exchange (A.R.E.) in Toronto hosted by the Adoption Council of Ontario. The A.R.E. enables adoption practitioners and potential adoptive parents (with completed and approved home studies) to gather together in one place.

Once you are chosen, you will likely meet and get to know your birth parents and unidentifiable information will be exchanged. The licensee then submits all birth parent information and the home study to the Ministry of Children and Youth Services for approval.

When the child is born, and if Ministry approval has been granted, you may take the child home. The birth parent(s) then, in the presence of a lawyer, sign the Consent to Adopt (this happens no earlier than seven days after the birth). The birth parents have 21 days to revoke the Consent.

As the adoptive parents in a private adoption, you are responsible for all associated fees including social worker, licensee fees and birth parent counselling (AdoptOntario, 2006).

What are the time frames? Is there anything potential parents can do to accelerate the process?
The time frames for both public and private adoption can range from a few weeks to a few years after home study approval.

In thepublic system placements are made in an effort to find the most suitable home for the child and not the other way around. As a result the wait time is unpredictable as it depends on whether the prospective parent(s) are found to be the most suited match to a child or children available at that time.

The wait to adopt privately is also variable because birth parents themselves choose the adoptive parents in most cases.

Once home studies are complete and approved there are ways that prospective adoptive parents in both systems can do to improve their chances of finding a child.

The Adoption Resource Exchange
Visit AdoptOntario (www.adoptontario.ca), Today’s Child (www.children.gov.on.ca) or Canada’s Waiting Children (www.canadaswaitingkids.ca).

Send profiles to other Ontario CAS offices (public) or to licensees and licensed agencies throughout the province (private).

Who qualifies for domestic adoption? What are the age limitations, health requirements, income levels, financial security and/or job stability?

Any Ontario resident over the age of 18 is eligible to adopt in Ontario. This includes people who are single, common law or married, spouses (step-parent adoptions) and two people who apply jointly as in same sex adoptions (AdoptOntario, 2006).

Applicants need to be able to financially manage the addition of a child or children to their family and they need to have no criminal history that will prevent them from being approved to adopt (Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa, 2006).

What is the procedure for international adoption?

International adoptions are governed in one of two ways, depending on whether they are finalized in Ontario or not. Adoptions finalized in Ontario function much like the private domestic adoptions outlined in (2) and fall under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Children and Youth Services. The Intercountry Adoption Act governs adoptions finalized outside of Ontario (those finalizing in the child’s home country (Adoption Council of Ontario, 2004). These are the procedures for adoptions finalized in Ontario:

Choose the country from which you would like to adopt.
Choose a licensed individual or international adoption agency authorized to adopt from that country.
Choose an adoption practitioner licensed by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services to conduct the home study.
Obtain approval from the Ministry of Children and Youth Services to adopt.
Once the prospective adoptive parent/s have been matched to a child obtain Ministry approval for the match.
Procedures for adoptions finalized in child’s country of origin:

Choose a licensed individual or international adoption agency.
Have a home study conducted by a licensed adoption practitioner.
Obtain approval from the Ministry of Children and Youth Services to adopt (Ministry of Children and Youth Services, 2003).

If I am considering international adoption, should I select a country first and then the agency?
Yes, it is suggested that you select a country and then find a ministry approved international adoption agency or individual who is authorized to adopt from the country you have chosen (Ministry of Children and Youth Services, 2003). For a list of agencies and licensees authorized to handle international adoptions and the countries in which they work go to the Ministry of Children and Youth Services website at www.children.gov.on.ca, click on adoptions, then publications, then scroll down to the List of Agencies and Licensees Authorized to Handle Adoptions involving Children outside Canada.

What restrictions apply to international adoption in Ontario?
Generally, restrictions surrounding international adoption vary depending on the country to which a person is applying, but anyone considering international adoption must employ the services of an approved licensed adoption service provided (Ministry of Children and Youth Services, 2003).

Is it possible to adopt an infant internationally?
Yes it is possible to adopt an infant internationally. These infants are generally not newborns, but may be under one year (Ministry of Children and Youth Services, 2003).

Do the same waiting times apply for international and domestic adoptions?
No. There are a number of variables that influence adoption wait times regardless of whether the adoption is international, domestic, private or public. It is best to contact a licensed international adoption professional for further details about possible wait times.

What defines a “special needs” child?
Adopted children referred to as “special needs” can present a range of difficulties from minor adjustment problems to more serious psychological and behavioural problems. Reilly & Platz, (2003) define those children with special needs as older children, those belonging to racial or ethnic minorities, sibling groups or children with developmental, emotional, medical or behavioural problem.

How can we best select a suitable adoption agency or licensee? Is there anything we have to look out for?
In public adoptions an adoption professional from the CAS is assigned to you. A private licensed (approved by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services) adoption professional or agency completes home studies for private adoptions. The home study is done privately for domestic or international adoption; therefore an adoption applicant is free to choose his or her own adoption professional.

It is important to ensure that you are comfortable with the adoption professional you choose because the home study touches on very personal areas of your married and family life. Much like hiring anyone, it is a good idea to “shop around”. Contact each potential licensee or agency with a set list of questions you want to ask. Get an idea for how they work and whether you will feel comfortable working with them.

For a list of licensed individuals and agencies and the countries from which they adopt go to the Ministry of Children and Youth Services website at www.children.gov.on.ca. That site also includes a guide to adopting a non-relative child internationally.

Is it possible to adopt more than one child at a time, for example, siblings?
Yes, it is possible to adopt sibling groups. Sibling groups can be adopted publicly, through the provinces Children’s Aid Societies and privately in the case of multiple births. This kind of adoption tends to be referred to as a “special needs”.

Can birth parents contact the child at some stage, for example when a child is a certain age?
Yes, there are two principal ways that a birth parent can have contact with their child. The first is through the use of the Adoption Information Disclosure Act 2005 and the second is through an ongoing arrangement between birth and adoptive parents in what is called an open adoption.

The Adoption Information Disclosure Act 2005 (Bill 183) which is expected to be fully implemented by September 2007, will, once an adopted child is 19 years old, enable birth parent/s to access the birth registration and adoption order of the child they placed for adoption. These documents may include identifyinginformation about their birth child, including the child’s name after adoption. These documents will not include any identifying information about the adoptive family (Ministry of Community and Social Services, 2005).

A birth parent can have varying degrees of ongoing contact with their birth child if both the birth and adoptive parents agree to have an open adoption. In her book, Raising Adopted Children, Lois Melina (1998) defines an open adoption as one in which members of the birth and adoptive families communicate with one another directly and adoptions where contact happens through a third party are called semi-open.

Are adoptive parents obliged to advise a child that he/she is adopted?
The research literature on adoption generally agrees that it is in your child’s best interest to begin talking about adoption at an early age (Rosenberg, 1992). So what was once a question of whether a child should be told about their adoption has become a question of when and how the telling should occur (Grotevant & McRoy, 1998; Sandelowski, 1995). And although adoption stories are told in a positive and loving way, they usually reflect the experiences of two families unknown to each other but brought together by loss. It is important that this story is not an ending, but the beginning of a narrative about a process that will unfold throughout the lives of all involved.

How does parental leave work for adoptive parents?
The Employee Standards Act, 2000 allows new parents, through birth and adoption, the right to take unpaid time from work when a baby or child first comes into their care. Either or both parents can take parental leave for a total of up to 35 weeks (Ministry of Labour, 2002).
Parental benefits are Employment Insurance (EI) payments paid out from the federal government and in order to be eligible to collect EI you must have accumulated 600 insured hours in the last 52 weeks or since you last put in a claim for EI benefits. For more information about parental leave and parental benefits, go to the Ministry of Labour website at www.labour.gov.on.ca.

What are the costs of adoption and what would the payment schedule be for fees?
For specific payment schedules, please contact the adoption practitioner, licensee or licensed adoption agency directly.

Public Adoption. There are no fees associated with public adoption as the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services pays for fees (AdoptOntario, 2006).

Private Adoption. The fees associated with private adoption can range from $10,000 to $20,000. This can include:

Private adoption practitioner fees (cost of home study and supervision of placement);
Licensee or licensed agency fees;
Birth parent counselling;
Private foster care (if needed)
Other: photocopying, long distance charges, etc.

(AdoptOntario, 2006).

International Adoption. The fees associated with international adoption vary but usually are a minimum of $15,000. The cost depends on the specific requirements of the each individual country and the services required to complete the adoption (Ministry of Children and Youth Services, 2003). These fees can include:

Adoption practitioner fees for the cost of the home study;
Adoption agency fees;
Post-placement reports
Liaison with foreign government (Private Adoption Services, 2006)
The Ministry of Children and Youth Services charges a $450 fee for international relative adoptions and $925 international for non-relative adoptions that finalize outside of Ontario.
Travel to and from the country to pick up the child.

Are any of the fees associated with adoption tax deductible?
An Adoption Expense Tax Credit was introduced in the Federal Budget in 2005. The tax credit is good on eligible adoption expenses of up to $10,000 and worth up to a maximum of $1,600 (Adoption Council of Canada, 2005). According to the Adoption Council of Canada website www.adoption.ca, eligible expenses include:

Fees paid to an adoption agency licensed by a provincial or territorial government;
Court costs; legal and administrative expenses;
Reasonable travel and living expenses for child and adoptive parents;
Document translation fees;
Mandatory fees paid to a foreign institution;
Any other reasonable expenses required by a provincial or territorial government or an adoption agency licensed by a provincial or territorial government.

About the author
Stephanie Stewart M.A., CCC is an Individual & Marital/Couple Counsellor living in Ottawa. She is a former IAAC Board member and local IAAC support group facilitator. In her private counselling practice she works with people who are experiencing the many emotions that can accompany infertility. For more information please call (613) 863-7845 or email stephanie4@rogers.com.

References

Adoption Council of Canada website. (2005) http://www.adoption.ca.

Adoption Council of Ontario website. (2006) AdoptOntario, www.adoptontario.ca.

Adoption Council of Ontario website. (2004) Adoption in Ontario: The ABC’s, http://www.adoption.on.ca/abc.html.

Grotevant, H., & McRoy, R. (1998) Openness in Adoption: Exploring Family Connections. California:Sage Publications.

Melina, L. (1998). Raising Adopted Children, New York: Harper Perennial.

Ministry of Community and Social Services website. (2006) http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/mcss/splash.htm.

Ministry of Children and Youth Services website (2003) www.children.gov.on.ca/CS/en/programs/Adoption/default.htm.

Ministry of Labour website. (2002). www.labour.gov.on.ca.

Private Adoption Services website. (2006) www.privateadoptionservices.com.

Reilly, T. & Platz, L. (2003). Characteristics and Challenges of Families who Adopt Children with Special Needs: An Empirical Study, Children and Youth Services Review, 25, 781-803.

Rosenberg, E.B. (1992). The Adoption Life Cycle. New York: The Free Press.

Sandelowski, M. (1995). A Theory of the Transition to Parenthood of Infertile Couples, Research in Nursing & Health, 18, 123-132.