ONTARIO DROPS $925 "HEAD TAX" FEE FOR INTERNATIONAL ADOPTIONS(Jan. 18, 2005) After five years of charging Ontarians $925 for some international adoptions, the Ontario government has abolished the fee (see government news release). Minister of Children and Youth Services Dr. Marie Bountrogianni announced that effective Jan. 13, 2005 the government was eliminating its fees on all international adoptions. "We’re making it a little bit easier for Ontarians to bring a child into their family and give them a place to call home," said Bountrogianni. "This government’s intention has always been to eliminate the processing fee for international adoptions." Starting March 8, 2000, the Ontario government imposed a $925 fee on Ontario families adopting non-relatives from abroad and $460 for adopting relatives, under the Intercountry Adoption Act. Families adopting domestically were not charged a processing fee. The fee also did not apply to international adoptions finalized in Ontario, which are regulated by the Child and Family Services Act. As a result, Ontarians didn't have to pay the fee when adopting from Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Philippines, South Korea and Thailand -- for those countries the adoption order is granted in a Canadian court. At the time it was explained as a "case processing fee" to recoup the cost of added paperwork needed to comply with the Hague Convention. The fee brought in about $500,000 a year. The ministry processed 695 international adoptions in 2003. No other provincial government charged such a fee. Adoption advocates fought against it, calling it "a head tax on foreign adoptees." They circulated a petition to the Ontario Legislature, and encouraged families to write letters to the minister, but the fee stayed. Though the provincial government fee is gone, families adopting internationally still have adoption agency and other expenses totalling anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000. An adoption from China, the preferred country for half of Canadian adopters, averages $21,000. ABOUT 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. 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." For definitions of adoption terms, go to http://www.adoption.ca and click "Glossary". 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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