Research > Researchers

Canadian Adoption Researchers (a partial list) 

Newfounland

Paul Sachdev, School of Social Work, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NF A1C 5S7 psachdev@mun.ca
Research interests: Child welfare (adoptions); family violence; reproductive health care; teenage pregnancy; human sexuality

Sonya Corbin Dwyer, Education, Memorial University of Newfoundland,
Research interests: SSHRC grant (with L. Gidluck) for research project "Examining Issues of Race, Racism, and Racial Identity in Families of Asian Children Adopted by White Parents."

Lynn Gidluck, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Ontario
Research interests: SSHRC grant (with Sonya Corbin Dwyer) for research project "Examining Issues of Race, Racism, and Racial Identity in Families of Asian Children Adopted by White Parents."

Quebec

Johanne Charbonneau, INRS Urbanisation, Culture et Société, 3465,ue Durocher, Montréal, QC H2X 2C6 charbonneau@inrs-ucs.uquebec.ca
Recherches: réseaux sociaux; biographies et temporalités individuelles; jeunesse; socialisation; don et responsabilité; maternité adolescente

Dr. Jean-Francois Chicoine, Clinique d'adoption internationale, Hôpital Sainte-Justine, 3175 Cote St. Catherine, Montreal, QC H3T 1C5 514 345-4931 - poste 6248, 514-345-4675 doc.chic.com@videotron.ca
Services: pre Adoption review of records/consultation; post Adoption medical evaluations; post adoption developmental evaluations; consultations to prepare for foreign travel; Infectious Disease, Travel Medicine; English, French

Catherine Hervouet-Zeiber
Section de pédiatrie sociale, Department of Pediatrics, CHU Sainte-Justine, University of Montreal

Caroline Méthot, INRS Urbanisation, Culture et Société, 3465,ue Durocher, Montréal, QC H2X 2C6 Caroline_Methot@inrs-UCS.uquebec.ca
Recherches: adoption domestique; adoption internationale; intégration familiale; parentalité adoptive; grand-parentalité adoptive; protection de la jeunesse

Chantal MIgneault, psychologue  Estrie 819 349-8528
Enfance/famille, intervention post-adoption

Francoise-Romaine Ouellette, INRS Urbanisation, Culture et Société, 3465,ue Durocher, Montréal, QC H2X 2C6 514 499-8273
ouelletter@inrs-ucs.uquebec.ca
Recherches: adoption; changements familiaux; circulation des enfants; normes sociales et juridiques; réseaux sociaux; protection de la jeunesse

Marie-Claude Poirier, psychologue clinicienne, 1746, Chemin Chambly, J4J 3X5, Longueuil, Québec
514 781-2754
Thèse de doctorat portant sur les attributions et les pratiques éducatives des parents adoptifs.

C. Ruth Solomon [Solomon-Scherzer], Department of Psychology, Universite de Montreal, Montreal, QB, H3C 3J7, cr.solomon.scherzer@umontreal.ca
Research interests:  Psychologie du développement, enfance et famille

Carol Cumming-Speirs, School of Social Work, McGill University, 3506 University St., Montreal, QC H3A 2A7 514-398-8450 carol.speirs@mcgill.ca
Research Interests: child welfare practice and policy: family preservation, permanency planning, out of home placements (adoption, foster care, residential), birth technology; adoption reform; object relations perspectives on personality growth and development; family policy; models of couple and family therapy; the Looking After Children (LAC) Outcomes and Action Records project in the UK now being adopted for use in Canada; AIDS orphans in South Africa

Réjean Tessier, École de psychologie, Pavillon Félix-Antoine-Savard, Université Laval, Québec, G1K 7P4 418 656-2131 poste: 7180 Rejean.Tessier@psy.ulaval.ca
Recherches: le développement socioémotif des enfants adoptés à l'étranger : une étude comparative; l'adaptation sociale d'enfants nés extrêmement prématurés; les relations d'attachement dans le développement de l'enfant; social and emotional development of children adopted from abroad.

Ontario

Gail Aitken, Professor Emeritus, School of Social Work, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria St., Toronto, ON M5B 2K3 gaitken@bmts.com
Research interests include: Sparrow Lake Alliance; permanency

Anne-Marie Ambert, Dept. of Sociology, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 ambert@yorku.ca 416 736-5015 or 416 736-2100, ext. 66406
Research interests: parent-child relations and child development; divorce, single parenting, and poverty; effect of juvenile delinquency on parents

Anne Archer, Department of Psychology, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, ON K9J 7B8 705 748-1011 ext. 5395 aarcher@trentu.ca
Research interests: assessment measures for children with Down Syndrome, relationship between language and cognition in children with language and cognitive delays, coping styles of parents with children with Down Syndrome, the family dynamics associated with children who are adopted internationally and the developmental milestones achieved by adopted children.

Karen Balcom, , Depts. of History & Women's Studies, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton, ON L8S 4M4 balcomk@mcmaster.ca : 905-525-9140 ext. 24152
Research interests: history of social welfare policy, women's reform networks, and adoption history.

Robert Ballard, Communication, Leadership and Social Innovation, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, N2V 2X1, bballard@uwaterloo.ca
Research interests: intercountry/international adoption, transracial adoption, adoptive family identity, adult adoptee identity, communication and identity development, interdisciplinary collaborations on intercountry adoption.

Marvin Bernstein, Director of Policy Development, Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies, 75 Front Street East, Toronto, ON M5E 1V9 416 366-8115 ext. 241 fax 416 366-8317
Reseach interests include: adoption and access.

Philip Burge, PhD, MSW, RSW. Dept, of Psychiatry, Queen's University, Kingston. 613-548-4417, ext: 1211. burgep@queensu.ca
Research interests: developmental disabilities; "transition issues" for young adults with developmental disabilities, and adoption.

Nancy Cohen, Director of Research, C.M. Hincks Institute, 114 Maitland St., Toronto, ON M4Y 1E1 416 972-1935 ext.3312 nancy.cohen@utoronto.ca or children.from.china@hincksdellcrest.org
Research interests: family attachment relationships in adolescents; outcomes of focused family therapies; outcomes of a community-based intervention for high-risk families

Karen Dubinsky, Department of History, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6 dubinsky@post.queensu.ca
Research Interests: gender history; the history of sexuality; international and interracial adoption

Lisa Edelsward, Ottawa, Ontario lisa_edelsward@hrdc-drhc.gc.ca
Research interests: post-doctoral research with families who adopted internationally in three provinces

Michael Grand (formerly Sobol), Dept. of Psychology, University of Guelph, ON N1G 2W1 grand@psy.uoguelph.ca
Research interests: adoption: psychological & social issues; social attributions of children and parents

Karen March, Dept. of Sociology & Anthropology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6 karen.march@sympatico.ca
Research interests: adoption; kinship, marriage and family; motherhood; qualitative research methods; field research

Charlene Miall, Dept. of Sociology, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton, ON L8S 4M4 miallce@mcmail.cis.mcmaster.ca
Research interests: social construction of knowledge; involuntary childlessness; adoption; scientific knowledge; social psychology; deviance; family; qualitative methods; infertility; reproductive technology

Anthony Volk, Dept. of Child & Youth Studies, Brock University, South Academic Block, 431, St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1
905 688-5550, ext. 5368 tony.volk@brocku.ca
Research Interests: developmental evolutionary psychology; parenting; development of parenting; child facial cues; scholastic outcomes; bullying & victimization; cultural and social influences on parent-child relationships

Anne Westhues, Faculty of Social Work, Wilfred Laurier University, 75 University Ave. W, Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5 awesthue@wlu.ca
Research interests: evaluation of policy and practice; social and strategic planning; adoption (international adoption, disclosure, disruption and reunions); family violence; the profession of social work and Canadian social policy.

Zhang Weiguo, Dept of Sociology, University of Toronto, Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road N., Mississauga, ON L5L 1C76 905 828-3943 weiguo.zhang@utoronto.ca or zhangw@credit.erin.utoronto.ca
Research interests: China; population & development; sociology of the family

Xiaobei Chen, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6
613 520-2600 ext. 3990 xiaobei_chen@.carleton.ca
Research interests: the adoption of Chinese children by European-Canadian parents and the social issues connected to such international adoptions.

Alberta

Jeannine Carriere, Faculty of Social Work Access Division, University of Calgary, Edmonton Division, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1 780-967-0118 carriere@ucalgary.ca
Research interests: Ph.D. "The role of connectedness and health for First Nation Adoptees"; permanency planning and aboriginal children; open customary adoption; on-reserve child welfare services

Sara Dorow, Department of Sociology, University of Alberta, 5-21 Tory, Edmonton, AB T6G 2H4 780.492.4301 sdorow@ualberta.casdorow@ualberta.ca
Research interests: transnational political economies of migration and exchange; race and culture; inequality and social change; identity construction; gender, family, and childhood; global ethnography

Simon Nuttgens, member of Amundson & Associates professional psychology, 614 8th Avenue N.W., Calgary, Alberta T2N 1C2
403 289-2511
Children, adolescents, and families, couple counselling, bereavement following suicide, and transracial adoption issues.

Janice Williamson, Dept. of English, University of Alberta 780 492-7822, janice.williamson@ualberta.ca
http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/~jwilliam/index.html Becoming Mah explores the complex worlds of cross-cultural adoptive parenting
Research interests: Canadian women's writing; feminist cultural studies and popular culture; Prairie Women's Cultures; trauma narratives and child sexual abuse; intergenerational race issues

British Columbia

Cindy Baldassi. Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia, 1322 East Mall, Vancouver British Columbia V6T 1Z1
baldassi@interchange.ubc.ca

H. David Kirk, 956 Harding Lane, Brentwood Bay, BC V0S 1A0

Lucy Lemare, Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6 604-291-3643 lucy_lemare@sfu.ca
Research interests: the impact of early experience on children's development, particularly in the social-emotional arena. Follow-up to Elinor Ames' research with children adopted from Romania

Annalee Lepp, Institute of Women's Studies, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 3045, Victoria, B.C. V8W 3P4 agolz@uvic.ca agolz@uvic.ca
Research interests: women's history; feminist historical perspectives; sexuality and the family: violence against women; women and the law including "Interrogating Developments in International Human Rights Law on Intercountry Adoptions"

Veronica Strong-Boag, Veronica Strong-Boag, Educational Studies and Women's Studies, University of British Columbia, 1896 East Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia Canada V6T 1Z1 veronica.strong-boag@ubc.ca 604-822-3016/822-9190 http://www.edst.educ.ubc.ca/faculty/strong-boag.html
Research interests: women's history; family and education; Canadian history; gender include: "Belonging: Canadians and Adoption from the mid-19th Century to the Present"

Richard Sullivan, School of Social Work & Family Studies, University of British Columbia, 2080 West Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2 604 822-4278 richsul@interchange.ubc.ca
Research interests: high risk and marginalized groups; social service evaluation; the relationship between social policy and the developmental experience of families and children

Manitoba

Jessaca Leinaweaver, Department of Anthropology, Winnipeg, MB R3T 5V5 204 474-7649  j_leinaweaver@umanitoba.ca
Research interests: kinship, anthropology of reproduction, anthropology of childhood, adoption, fosterage, rural-to-urban migration, transnational migration, gender, the Andes.