Adoption rates increase in B.C. as province rethinks permanent homes

More children in B.C. were adopted last year than they have been since 1997, and the province wants to increase that number even further by re-examining how it places Aboriginal children in particular in permanent homes. 

The Ministry of Children and Family Development said 368 children in government care were adopted in 2015-2016 — an increase of one third over the previous year. 

"Exceeding our adoptions target means that more young British Columbians will experience the unconditional love and support they deserve," said Children and Family Development Minister Stephanie Cadieux. 

The province said this year it has set the ambitious goal of nearly doubling placements by finding permanent homes for 600 children.

Rethinking permanent placements

Part of the way the ministry intends to achieve that goal is by changing the way it looks at permanent placements, especially for Aboriginal children, who make up the majority of the youth in government care. 

B.C.'s Representative for Children, Mary-Ellen Turpel-Lafond, pointed out that the ministry has not commonly recognized informal placements that traditionally take place in Aboriginal communities — arrangements like elders caring for their grandchildren when parents aren't able to. 

"One of the important things is to recognize with Indigenous people is their forms of kinship placement and custom adoption — and so much has been stripped from that," said Turpel-Lafond.

"The ministry is opening its mind to that, and I'm pleased about that. I also know there's a lot of work to be done."

Turpel-Lafond referenced the controversial history of First Nations adoptions in Canada during what is called the Sixties Scoop —  the period of time between the 1960s and 80s when thousands of aboriginal children were placed with mostly non-native adoptive families in Canada, the U.S. and Europe.

Rethinking adoption

She also said idea of adoption centred around children finding a new home at the complete loss of their old one is shifting. Increasingly, she said, children retain connections with their original families after they're adopted. 

"We're going to have to change some of the ways we think about adoption from what it was in the 1960s, 70s and 80s," Turpel-Lafond said. 

Cadieux said the province is providing $3 million in new funding over three years to help Aboriginal adoption agencies find permanent homes for children, as well as to support the adoption education program — a training program that must be completed by anyone applying to adopt a child in B.C.