Adoption News
Adoption Options Workshops
September 7, 2011
Adoption Options is pleased to host renowned author and adoption expert, Patricia Irwin Johnston.
Date and Times
Workshops will be presented in Calgary and Edmonton for both the professional and general adoption community.
- Calgary - November 16, 2011 at Calgary Golf and Country Club
- Workshop: Professional Development Workshop
The Family-Challenged Client in the 21st Century; changing and challenging issues today with a new generation of clients. A certificate will be presented for your attendance.
Time: 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
- Workshop: Open to anyone interested in learning more about fertility loss, and the adoption journey and take away tools for managing.
Time: 7 – 9 p.m.
- Workshop: Professional Development Workshop
- Edmonton - November 17, 2011 at Adoption Options Edmonton
- Workshop: Professional Development Workshop
The Family-Challenged Client in the 21st Century; changing and challenging issues today with a new generation of clients. A certificate will be presented for your attendance.
Time: 1 – 4 p.m.
- Workshop: Open to anyone interested in learning more about fertility loss, and the adoption journey and take away tools for managing.
Time: 7 – 9 p.m.
- Workshop: Professional Development Workshop
More Information
Complete workshop information can be found in the Event Details document.
Haiti
Adoption and Permanency Services has been advised that several Haitian orphanages are not accepting any new applications until they can confirm the children in their orphanages do not have any extended family or other adoptive placements within the country, due in part to concerns with possible human trafficking.
Orphanage staff are overwhelmed with addressing basic survival issues and cannot turn their attention to administration of new files at this time. In addition, infrastructure in Haiti, such as the court system, has been devastated by the earthquake and no legal work can be done to assist children with new adoptions until they have a new system in place. Haiti will advise us when they are able to accept more applications for children.
The federal government is responsible for admitting all children into Canada once all requirements are met and is responsible for providing direction about future adoption files and whether or not emergency measures for new applications will be extended. Their position will likely depend on Haiti’s decisions about processing children.
We are also advising prospective families to review our international adoption guidebook, available on this website under International Adoptions, for the process involved. Families can make their decision to go ahead based on Alberta’s process and the information we provide about the current situation. We cannot encourage them to hope that the process will be speedy, or guarantee them that their file will be processed through the Haitian Embassy in Ottawa or in Haiti until we receive further direction.
The Haitian government will advise when new requirements are in place, and when orphaned children may be available for international adoption matching. New information on adoption from Haiti will be posted as soon as it is received.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada's website http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/releases/2010/2010-01-16.asp
Priority is being given to new and existing sponsorship applications from Canadian citizens, permanent residents and protected persons who have close family members in Haiti. They must, however, identify themselves as being directly and significantly affected by the current situation and notify Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). Priority consideration will also be given to pending adoption cases with the visa office in Port-au-Prince.
New sponsorship applications should have “Haiti” prominently written on the mailing envelope. Sponsors and applicants presently in Canada who have applications in process should notify the CIC Call Centre at 1-888-242-2100 (in Canada only, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET Monday through Friday) or by email at question-Haiti@cic.gc.ca to identify their existing applications, if they or the family they have sponsored have been adversely affected.
www.international.gc.ca/humanitarian-humanitaire/earthquake_seisme_haiti.aspx
Parenting Your Adopted Preschooler
Understand the developmental needs of children ages three to five and how adoption experiences can affect their development. This factsheet describes practical strategies that can help parents create stable and loving relationships based on honesty and trust with their children.
Click here to view factsheet
China - Melamine Issue
If you would like current information about milk contamination in China please check the websites of the World Health Organization and the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Edmonton and Calgary Adoption Clinics
The Edmonton Adoption Clinic and the Calgary Adoption Clinic are resources for adoptive parents both pre and post adoption. In Edmonton, a team of professionals headed by Dr. Cecilia Baxter at the Royal Alexandra Hospital is dedicated to consulting and supporting adoptive families. For more information see the Edmonton Adoption Clinic brochure. The newer clinic in Calgary is headed by Dr. Susan Kuhn and Dr. Katharine Smart at the Alberta Children's Hospital. The Calgary Clinic can be contacted at 403-955-2200 or by fax at 403-955-2853.
LICO Table - Effective to December 31, 2010
The most recent guidelines posted on Canada Immigration's Guide for Child/Family Sponsorship are as follows, effective from January 1 to December 31, 2010.
| Sponsors (guarantors) are presumed to be able to satisfy their undertaking if in the last 12 months they have had gross income from Canadian sources equal to the SUM of the amount for the existing family unit PLUS additional amounts for number of children adopted. These amounts are indexed each year.
Table 1 - Basic Income Required by Sponsor to Meet Basic Needs of Own Family
Above table developed from the following figures: Additional Income Required By Sponsor to Meet Basic Needs of Sponsored Children (Persons Under 18 Years) 1 Additional Child - $7,126 The gross annual income required is increased by C$3,765 for each additional person under 18. All funds quoted in Canadian dollars |
Please note: If you are sponsoring an adopted child or a child to be adopted in Canada, the minimum necessary income requirement does not apply for Canada Immigration. These figures are supplied as a guideline. However, the information does help to assess your ability to fulfil the obligations in your sponsorship/adoption of a child or children.
International Adoption Program
Alberta recognizes the important role that adoptive families play in their commitment to enrich the lives of adopted children through international adoption. A child’s community also plays a role in supporting the family and providing services that the child requires.
International adoptions are changing on an ongoing basis. Increasingly, countries are introducing international adoption programs that encourage parents from other parts of the world to adopt children with very complex medical conditions. These types of adoption requests are relatively new to Alberta. It is important Alberta families have the information they need to make informed decisions when considering international adoptions of children with very complex medical conditions.
To ensure these types of requests are handled in a transparent and consistent manner, Alberta Human Services has developed a process that guides international referrals. International applications continue to be accepted and processed, and referrals of children with very complex medical conditions are reviewed on a case-by-case basis to ensure that the family wishing to adopt and the community the child will live in have the resources in place to meet the needs of the child.
For more information please read the appropriate section of the Guidebook for International Adoption or call (780) 422-0178.
Travel Health
CDC recommends that all international travellers consult a travel health-care provider 4-6 weeks prior to travel to determine if any other measures, such as immunizations or medications, are indicated for the planned itinerary. Vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles and mumps, are still common in many parts of the world, including developed countries. The CDC website (http://www.cdc.gov/travel/) has a specific section for travelling with children, which includes general health advice for international adoptees and their adoptive parents, and travel notices, which describe current disease information of interest to travellers.
Source: US State Department
http://www.travel.state.gov/
Traveller's Health Clinics
Adoptive families who are travelling to their child's country of origin need to have current information regarding immunization prior to travelling, as well as prevention and safety during their stay. Information regarding Traveller's Health Clinics in Alberta is available, as well as in other provinces, through the Public Health Agency of Canada website. http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/tmp-pmv/
As well, for Alberta families who may be travelling to bring home an adopted child, Alberta Health Services has information, counselling and immunization services. Please visit their website at http://www.albertahealthservices.ca/services.asp?pid=service&rid=7568 to find your nearest Travellers Health Clinic.
Ghana
In response to some requests regarding time frames for international from Ghana, we have received information from the Canadian Embassy. Ghana's Children's Act states that six months of residency are required to apply and one year to get the adoption order thereafter. Families are not encouraged to travel unless they have received notification from the responsible Immigration office that their documents are complete.
Liberia (January 2009)
Liberia (January 2009)
The Government of Canada has shared its concerns with the Canadian competent adoption authorities regarding the adoption process and the child protection framework in Liberia. International adoptions from Liberia do not offer the safeguards necessary to carry out international adoptions in a transparent manner that protects the interests of the children, the biological parents, or the prospective parents. Furthermore, there is no functioning legal framework to ensure the legality of adoptions; that children have not been abducted, trafficked or sold, and that informed parental consent has been received in cases where biological parents are still living.
The Government of Canada has suggested that a moratorium be implemented in light of the best interests of the child standard set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. These authorities have consequently implemented a moratorium on international adoptions from Liberia.
As of May 2008, the moratorium was effective across all Canada. This means that along with all Canadian provinces and territories, Alberta does not accept applications to adopt from Liberia. For further information please see the federal website posting regarding the Canadian Moratorium on adoption from Liberia at http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/ghana/visas/adoption.aspx?lang=eng.
For information on international adoption and immigration, please visit http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/adoption/index.asp
Legal Advice
Families who are involved in an adoption where they require legal information may call this toll free number (1-800-661-1095, or 228-1722 in Calgary) explain what they need and ask for a lawyer referral. They will be given the names and contact information of three lawyers who deal with Family Law issues and who will provide a free half hour consulation. Issues may include legal consents, document completion, filing issues, guardianship or court procedures.
The Hague Children's Conventions
The Hague Conference has added a brochure to their website http://hcch.e-vision.nl/index_en.php entitled "The Hague Children's Conventions", which provides information about all the conventions that concern children. The brochure can be read online or printed for your use.
Website for IAFA
The International Adoption Families Association (IAFA) has a website address at http://www.iafa.ca/. This group of voluntary members provides support and information to Alberta families who have adopted internationally or are in the process of doing so.
Haiti - Coordinators
Due to increased complexity in dossier requirements and travel arrangements, Adoption Services is recommending that all families who are applying to Haiti for an international adoption arrange for a coordinator to assist them. All of the private licensed adoption agencies have a dossier preparation program.
Families in Alberta use co-ordinators for services that do not facilitate the adoption. These services include:
- preparation of all required documentation on the family's behalf including transportation, notarization, certification and authentication of the Home Assessment Report and supporting documents,
- obtaining travel visas and making hotel/travel arrangements for adoptive parents who travel to and in the child's country,
- arranging for a translator who is knowledgeable about the events which must occur upon the applicant's arrival in the child's country. Some co-ordinators accompany the adoptive families to the child's country and provide translators.
Please note for Haitian adoption dossiers in progress, the Haitian Embassy in Ottawa has requested that all dossiers include the following:
- four passport pictures of each applicant
- pictures of the home (inside and outside) and yard including pictures of the room that will be the child's room.
- Some dossiers have been held at the Haitian Embassy awaiting these additions. All future Haitian dossiers should include these items.
