CAN CANADIANS ADOPT TSUNAMI ORPHANS? THE ACC RESPONDS(Jan. 7, 2005) Sandra Scarth, President of the Adoption Council of Canada, today released the position of the Adoption Council of Canada on adopting children orphaned by the Asian tsunami disaster. ACC POSITION ON ADOPTING TSUNAMI ORPHANS The recent tsunami has affected many countries in Southeast Asia and resulted in the deaths of thousands, and the separation of many parents and children. The visual impact of the devastation and its effect on children has been horrifying. There are no estimates yet of the numbers of orphaned children, but they may be high. The Adoption Council of Canada and many of its member organizations have been fielding numerous inquiries from the public and the media about how people can best help the children, and particularly about the potential for Canadians to adopt them. However, intercountry adoption, particularly by non-relatives, is not the first response to help the children. The priorities for local authorities are:
If family members cannot be found, some countries may consider adoption by community members known to the child, or by non-relatives within the country. But first the authorities will want to ensure that the children are truly orphaned. In some countries affected, there are large muslim populations where adoption is not part of the law or culture, and relatives and community members may take care of children in more informal arrangements. International adoption might become a possibility if no care for an orphan is found among family, community or non-relatives in the country. It is up to the country in question to decide if it will allow orphans to find new homes abroad. Countries will try to eliminate all possibility of families caring for orphans within their borders. Only then could Canadians apply to adopt a particular orphan, if the country allows international adoption. The time needed to follow the steps -- try to re-unite with family members, ensure the child is an orphan, allow for possible domestic adoption -- would vary by country and individual circumstances, but could take up to two years. The Canadian government is working with provincial and territorial governments so that Canada is prepared to accept children orphaned by the disaster once they are legally available for adoption. Canada will then work closely with the countries involved to arrange the adoptions as quickly as possible. (The federal government is talking specifically about expediting the immigration process for situations where extended family live in Canada.) There is good news for Ontario residents. The Canadian Press reported Jan. 7, 2005 that the Ontario government will likely announce within a week that it will waive the adoption fee for adoptions of children orphaned by the tsunami disaster. Children's Services Minister Marie Bountrogianni said Ontario could end up eliminating the fees for all international adoptions, not just for tsunami orphans. For more, see "Ontario drops $925 fee". Canada is a signatory to the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. Its basic premise is that states should make every effort to enable a child to remain in the care of his or her family of origin. If that is not possible and another suitable family cannot be found in the state, then intercountry adoption can offer the advantage of a permanent family. The Hague Convention sets in place measures to ensure that intercountry adoptions are made in the best interests of children and to prevent the abduction, sale of, or traffic in children. In practice this means that the children must be deemed legally free by their country of origin to be adopted outside the country, and the receiving country must ensure that the prospective adoptive family has been thoroughly assessed as suitable to adopt the child (the home study process). What people can do to help children affected by the disaster is to donate to agencies already working in the affected countries. Many may be found on the Internet. Here are some suggested organizations:
Canadians should not forget that there are thousands of children right here in Canada who need permanent homes. To find out more about adopting in Canada, consult Canada's only national photolisting web site, "Canada's Waiting Kids", run by the Adoption Council of Canada. It shows photos and profiles of children in the care of Canadian child welfare agencies and waiting for permanent adoptive families. For a description of how the web site works, see "Canada's Waiting Children Program Finds Permanent Homes For Kids." ABOUT THE ACCBased in Ottawa, the Adoption Council of Canada is a federally chartered, charitable organization which aims to inform and educate Canadians about all aspects of adoption, and encourage the adoption of children needing permanent homes. One of ACC's long-standing goals has been to recruit adoptive families for waiting children across Canada. In 1997, six years after becoming incorporated, ACC earned its first grant from the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption (www.davethomasfoundation.org) and Wendy's Restaurants of Canada, which made the Canada's Waiting Children program (and the "Canada's Waiting Kids" web site) possible. Thanks to their ongoing support, ACC has been able to devote considerably more time and effort to finding families for Canadian children without a permanent home. For explanations of adoption terms, see ACC Glossary at http://www.adoption.ca. Click "Glossary" on the left. Source: Adoption Council of Canada, www.adoption.ca Copyright 2005 Adoption Council of Canada. Reproduction permitted, if credited "Source: Adoption Council of Canada, www.adoption.ca". Please make a request to reprint, so we can track where ACC news items are used. Send your request to acc@adoption.ca. |
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