You are considering the possibility of placing your child for adoption, and you are a bit lost. Adoption is not an easy decision for birth mothers, but if you feel it is the right choice for you and your child, then you are going need some support. In Canada, there are a wealth of resources out there to help you along your journey. The resources will point you towards people that will help support you. Being a birth mother isn’t an easy job, and it is definitely best to travel this road with others who will support you. Have a look at these resources and find others who can walk with you. It’s important that you don’t do this alone.

1. Adoption council of Canada – This a great place to turn to as it will let you know what your rights are as a potential birth mother. They also have peer to peer support to walk with you during the placement of your child.
2. Birth mothers of Canada – Is an amazing resource. They celebrate birth mothers! They will help you navigate open adoptions and even help adoptive families by taking away any fears or stigmas they have around birth mothers so that birth mothers can be a part of their children’s lives whenever possible. They even celebrate Birth Mother’s Day!
3. BirthMom Buds – This is an organization that supports birth moms. They have a really interesting program where they pair up two birth moms. Their hope is that birth moms can find a friend who is going through a similar situation, and together they can support one another.
4. Canada Adopts – Is a resource for birth moms if you are looking for a family to adopt your child. There are many family profiles on this site.
5. Adoption in Canada – Is a resource that shares different stories of Birth moms and adoptees about their adoption experience. It also gives a birth mother practical information on steps to take if you are interested in adoption. This resource also gives you a list of places you can go to get more information or help with your adoption decision based on the province and city that you live in or near. 
6. Pregnancy Care Centre – There are many local pregnancy care centres. If you contact your local pregnancy care centre you will receive help in finding a good adoption counselor who will work with you. Your adoption counselor can also help you find the right adoption agency or a licensed adoption worker who will help you with all the legal aspects of an adoption.
7. Origins Canada – Is an organization that provides information regarding a birth mother’s rights and seeks to help reunite families that were separated by adoption.

These are some of the resources available to birth mothers in Canada. As a birth mom, you have chosen the most selfless act for your child. You are hoping to provide them with something that you feel you can’t provide for them, thus putting your child’s needs first. You are beautiful. You are selfless. You are the most amazing mother ever! I hope that these resources will be a source of comfort for you in your journey through motherhood.

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Are you ready to make a difference in the life of a child? Many children? Do you think  being  a foster parent in Canada might be right for you?

Sometimes families in our communities need a little help to get back on their feet and often while they are working at getting the help they need, their children need a safe, healthy, and loving environment in which to stay. This is where a foster parent comes in.

A foster parent applicant can be almost anyone over the age of 18 who is willing to go through all the requirements to become a foster parent and who is then approved by the agency. The majority of foster parents are through the local Children’s Aid Society, although there are a few other residential programs that are licensed by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services to provide specialized foster care.

How to become a foster parent in Canada varies slightly between provinces. The first thing you should do if you are interested in becoming a foster parent or learning more about foster parenting in your area, is to contact your local Children’s Aid Society.

Here is a brief overview of how to become a foster parent in Canada, but again, the specifics tend to vary between provinces.

1.   Contact your local Children’s Aid Society or licensed residential program that provides specialized foster care. You can find this information by searching online.

2. Information meeting: Once you’ve made contact you will likely be invited to an information meeting about foster care which will give you specific information about becoming a foster parent in your area. It will also explain some of the details of what a foster parent is and what challenges children who are placed in foster care often have. 

3. Application: Next you will need to fill out a foster parent application, which includes information about your family and the space that you have in your home that is available for foster children. It will also likely include multiple documents such as:

– A criminal record check with vulnerable sector done through your local police station for anyone living in your home over the age of 18

– Multiple personal references from people who know you

– A medical form filled out by your doctor

-Other checks such as a prior contact check, or an intervention record check

4. Home Study: After this you will likely be given a social worker who will complete a SAFE (Structured Analysis, Family Evaluation) home study. The home study can be quite invasive. Not only do they study your home for potential threats and hazards, but it also studies your family and your extended family. You will also be asked to talk about your parenting skills and your family history.

5. Training: All agencies require training when becoming a foster parent. Some training is done for multiple weeks in a row, other training is done over a longer period of time. Many provinces use a training program called PRIDE – Parent Resources for Information, Development, and Education) that must be completed before any children are placed in your home.

6, Approval/licensing: Once your application is approved, your home study is completed successfully and approved, and you have completed and successfully passed your training, the agency will approve your home to be a foster home or provide you with a license to foster parent. Then, you will be placed on a list as an approved foster parent home.

7, Placement: There are different types of placement for foster homes. You may be open to all or just to some. These include: emergency foster placement, relief foster placement, short-term foster placement, long-term foster placement, or foster-to-adopt placement. If a placement comes up, you will get a call from a social worker who will give a few details about a child who is in need of a foster home. You will have the opportunity to accept the foster placement, or decline if you feel the placement would not be successful in your home. Once children are placed in your home, you meet their needs, shower them with love, and accept them with arms open until the time comes for them to move on. It’s not always easy, but it can be incredibly rewarding to play a small but important part in a child’s life, especially at a time in their life that is tumultuous.

Foster parents are a very vital part of our communities. Thank you for considering becoming a foster parent and good luck with the process! You are much appreciated for the lives you will influence, help, and love.

The post How To Be A Foster Parent In Canada appeared first on Canada Adoption | International, Registry, Agencies, Cost.

You are looking to expand your family, and you decided to adopt in Canada is  the way to do it! Congratulations! Thank you for being willing to help children who need a forever family! Your family will be unique and wonderful. It will likely be filled with many challenges (as parenting always is), and with much joy!

In Canada, adoption falls under the provincial jurisdiction. That means that the adoption process may vary between the different provinces in Canada. Once you know which province you are planning to adopt from, make sure you look up their specific requirements and their specific process for adoption.

There are two main types of adoption in Canada: Private domestic adoption and public adoption. (There is also stepchild adoption and kinship adoption.) Private domestic adoption and public adoption both have a similar process. Both types of adoption can be closed or open adoptions–most adoptions now are open or have some openness included in them. Rarely are there closed adoptions unless safety of the child is involved, or the birth parent chooses to have no contact.

The biggest differences between the two types of adoption are as follows. In private domestic adoption, the birth family and the adoptive family have much more control over the adoption process than they do in public adoption. The wait for a healthy infant is also shorter through private domestic adoption because in public adoption the children often come from hard, difficult, sometimes dangerous situations. Some of these children are infants, but many of them are older children. And lastly, the cost for private domestic adoption is a lot higher than the cost of public adoption.

Once you have decided which type of adoption to pursue, you can begin the adoption process.

If you decided public adoption was best for you, here are the steps you would need to take:

1.      Attend an initial intake meeting through your local children’s services agency.
2.      Fill out an adoption application. The application involves difficult, personal questions related to your family, extended family, and parenting styles. It also involves a police background check with vulnerable sector for anyone in your home over the age of 18, as well as a medical exam and references.
3.      Attend training sessions. To be able to adopt, you are required to take a parenting class. Not all provinces use the same one, however many use a program called PRIDE (Parent Resources for Information, Development, and Education) which is a pre-service training program. In many provinces, it must be completed successfully before you are eligible to adopt.
4.      Have a home study done. A social worker will come to your home to complete your home study. The home study assesses your home for safety and potential hazards that you need to address. It also includes interviews with each person in the family. The home study helps prepare you for the challenges of parenting an adopted child and will help the social worker determine if you are ready to adopt a child or not.
5.      Wait for a decision to be made. The agency will review all the information that they have received about your family and will decide if your home can be open for adoption.
6.      Wait for a child. The agency looks to place children with families and not families with children. The needs of the children are considered first. If the agency has a child that needs to be adopted, they will look at the prospective families available and will place the child in the home that they feel will be best suited to meeting the needs of that child.
7.      Wait for the trial period to end. Once a child is placed in your home for adoption, there is often a trial period that happens before the agency will file for adoption with the court. As you adjust to your new addition, you will continue to have visits from social workers to discuss how the child’s needs are continuing to be met.
8.      Adoption. Once the agency is satisfied that the child’s needs are being met and that the home is the best one for the child, they will file for adoption through the courts. You may be given the opportunity to have a day in court when your adoption becomes official, or you will receive the official adoption certificate in the mail. Then you can take a sigh of relief and continue loving on your new child!

If you decided private domestic adoption was best for you, here are the steps you would need to take:

1.      Have a home study done. You will likely need to find a licensed adoption practitioner who can do this for you.
2.      Find a potential birth mother. You can do this through an agency, or online. Usually you would create a profile about you and your family that a birth mother could read. If a birth mother is considering you and your family, then she will get in touch with you.
3.      Review medical histories. You will likely have the opportunity to review the medical histories of the potential birth mother (and father if possible).
4.      The potential birth mother (and father) will likely go through social and legal counselling prior to agreeing to an adoption
5.      The child will be placed with you.
6.      Wait for the birth mother’s revocation of consent period to expire (the time for this differs between provinces)
7.      Wait for the probationary period to pass (you will have regular visits from an adoption practitioner during this time).
8.      You must submit a post-placement report to the provincial ministry in charge of adoption (specifics depend on the province).
9.      Adoption! You will receive an adoption order from the court–you can have a day in court or receive your adoption certificate in the mail.

However you choose to adopt in Canada, thank you for adopting. May you grow together as a family and continue to make a difference for the better in our country! If you want to adopt internationally in Canada, visit Adoption.com/international to find out more information.

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