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ADOPTION FAQ
1. How do I get started?
2. How long do I have to wait to adopt a child?
3. Can I adopt as a single applicant?
4. Why would I not be able to proceed to the
Home Study phase of the process?
5. Do we have to be wealthy to adopt a child?
6. Will adopting through York Region CAS cost
anything?
7. How long will I have to wait to be placed
with a child?
8. Can I specify what type of child I am looking
to adopt?
9. Can I adopt more than one child at a time?
10. What role does a birth parent(s) have?
11. What am I entitled to know about the adoptive
family?
12. Can I see the baby before the adoption?
13. Can I receive payment or a reward from a
family I place my baby with?
14. Am I entitled to know when the adoption
is completed?
15. What if the birth father does not wish to
be involved?
1. How do I get
started?
After reviewing the material on this webpage, please complete
the application form. If you prefer to speak to someone directly,
please call the York Region Children's Aid Society Adoption
Department at 905-895-2318. Provided you meet the eligibility
criteria, an adoption intake worker will visit you at your
home. After this intake visit, if there is a mutual decision
to proceed to adopt, the CAS will conduct a home study that
involves you completing a number of forms, attending all training,
and having several visits to your home. During the home study
you'll be encouraged to assess your own attitudes and abilities.
You'll also be asked to provide four character references,
as well as undergo current medical and police checks. By working
together through this process, a decision can be made about
whether adoption is right for you, and what kind of child
or children you could parent.
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2. How long do I have to wait
to adopt a child?
There are no standard waiting periods. Everything depends
on the right match. Adoption placements are based on the child's
need, so the waiting time depends on an appropriate match
being made between a child needing adoption, and a family
approved for adoption. Therefore, there's no set waiting time
or waiting list.
Once the match is made, there may be several visits to allow
the child to get to know the new family and surroundings before
moving into the home. By law, there's a minimum six-month
adjustment period from the time a child moves into the new
home until the adoption is completed. A longer adjustment
period may be necessary depending on the needs of the child
and the adoptive family. This is the time when any problems
that might arise in the developing relationship can be worked
out.
When everybody's ready to complete the adoption, the CAS applies
to the court for an adoption order. This makes the adopting
parents the child's legal parents, and the child a legal member
of their family.
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3. Can I adopt as a single
applicant?
Yes, we accept single applicants as long as you have some
form of a support system around you.
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4. Why would I not be able
to proceed to the Home Study phase of the process?
There could be several reasons why an applicant would not
proceed to the Home Study phase. We expect that our applicants
not have a criminal record of a serious, recent and relevant
nature. Also, we are looking for applicants who are healthy,
emotionally and financially stable and are able to provide
a good loving home. Additionally as we have so few infants
we only will do home studies for those interested in special
needs children, over 2 years old.
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5. Do we have to be wealthy
to adopt a child?
No. We are only looking for financially stable applicants
who are comfortably able to provide for a child.
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6. Will adopting through York
Region CAS cost anything?
No. There are no fees involved in adopting a child through
a CAS.
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7. How long will I have to
wait to be placed with a child?
The timing of a placement is highly dependent upon the children
being referred to adoption and your own family's strengths
and experiences. There is no standard timeframe.
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8. Can I specify what type
of child I am looking to adopt?
Yes. Through your Home Study process, you will explore what
type of child you and your family would feel most comfortable
with and as such, what type of child would be the "best
match" for your family.
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9. Can I adopt more than one
child at a time?
You can only adopt more than one child at a time if the children
are siblings. In all other cases, if you would like to adopt
more than one child, you must wait until your first adoption
has been completed before initiating the adoption process
for the second time. If you pursue adoption for a second time,
you will need to have an update of your Home Study, medical
reports, reference letters and police checks.
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10. What role does a birth
parent(s) have?
Prior to the adoption, the birth parent(s) may provide input
about the kind of family they would like for their child.
The values, lifestyle, education, cultural heritage and other
characteristics that are important to the birth parents are
considered carefully when choosing the child's adoptive parents.
Recently there has been a move to create more openness between
adopting families and birth families. The degree of openness
a child needs, a birth parent wants, or an adopting family
can accept, is carefully examined early in the adoption process.
It could range from a photo and/or a letter to go with the
child upon adoption, to visits between birth parents and children.
The York Region Children's Aid Society encourages birth parent(s),
who are relinquishing a child for adoption, to be involved
in the planning process to the extent that they wish. Practices
in adoption tend towards openness to the extent that information
exchange is non-identifying and protects the identities of
both the birth and adoptive parents. Birth parents relinquishing
a child for adoption may participate in any of the following
ways in the selection of an adoptive family:
- Through the expression of hopes and
preferences for their child or particular qualities they
would seek in an adoptive family.
- Through attending the adoption placement
conference and participating in the selection discussions.
- By meeting the prospective adoptive parents
to exchange wishes for and feelings about the child.
- With the agreement of the birth parents
and adoptive family, the Society may act as an intermediary
for the annual exchange of non-identifying information such
as letters.
- Through the provision of gifts, letters
or mementoes for the child at the time of adoption placement.
When parents decide to relinquish their child
for adoption, a consent for adoption must be signed. This
consent cannot be given until the child is eight days old.
If only one parent is available, to sign a consent for adoption,
it is the practice of this agency to pursue a voluntary Crown
Wardship order, to ensure a child is legally able to be placed
for adoption. There is a 30day appeal period, after a Crown
Wardship order is made. Provided there is no appeal launched
within 30days the child is then free to be placed in an adoptive
home. Birth parents can reduce unnecessary delays in adoption
finalizations by providing a copy of the child’s birth
certificate or birth registration. If the birth was never
registered the agency will assist the birth parent in getting
the birth registered.
A child being placed for adoption who is seven years of age
or older must also give written consent. Consent given by
either the parent or child (if the child is seven years or
older) may be withdrawn within 21 days after the consent is
given.
When a child has been made a crown ward under the Child and
Family Services Act, then a children's aid society is required
by law to make all reasonable efforts to secure an adoption
placement, if adoption planning is in the child's best interests.
A Crown Wardship order is made by the courts on determination
that in the child's best interests he/she can no longer live
with his/her birth parents, and that a better and less restrictive
option (such as placing the child with relatives) is not available.
Under Crown Wardship, the province accepts all rights and
responsibilities for the child.
A Crown ward cannot be placed in an adoptive home until any
outstanding access order made under child protection proceedings
has been terminated by court order, the time permitted for
appeal of the Crown Wardship order has fully expired and any
appeal of that order has concluded with a decision that has
left the order intact.
In cases of Crown ward adoptions, written consent to the adoption
is necessary from the children's aid society and the child
to be adopted, if that child is seven years of age or older.
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11. What am I entitled to
know about the adoptive family?
Birth parents are entitled to non-identifying information
about the adoptive family. Sometimes adoptions are much more
"open" and an agreement may be made that pictures
and letters would be exchanged over the years. And some families
may agree to ongoing visits. But no names or addresses are
exchanged without everyone's permission.
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12. Can I see the baby before
the adoption?
You can meet with the child’s foster parents, social
worker(s), and see the child before the child is placed with
you for adoption. A visit with the child can only occur after
you have been selected as the best match for the child.
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13. Can I receive payment
or a reward from a family I place my baby with?
No. It is a criminal offence to accept payment or a reward
for an adoption placement.
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14. Am I entitled to know
when the adoption is completed?
Yes, this is your right. Tell your adoption worker that you
would like to be informed when the adoption has been completed.
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15. What if the birth father
does not wish to be involved?
We cannot force the involvement of the birth father. We do
make all efforts, however to involve both birth parents in
planning for their child and in signing consent to the child's
adoption. It is important to remember that both birth parents
can provide vital information about the child that no one
else would know. They are the key to providing accurate health
and social history information for the child and it is in
the child's best interest to have this information from both
parents.
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