{"id":2382,"date":"2011-06-02T22:50:25","date_gmt":"2011-06-02T22:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.againstchildtrafficking.org\/?p=2382"},"modified":"2011-06-02T22:50:25","modified_gmt":"2011-06-02T22:50:25","slug":"liberals-pass-law-to-ease-adoption-of-crown-wards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/liberals-pass-law-to-ease-adoption-of-crown-wards\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberals pass law to ease adoption of Crown wards"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Source: http:\/\/www.thestar.com<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Published On Wed Jun 1 2011
\nLaurie MonsebraatenSocial Justice Reporter<\/p>\n

Queen\u2019s Park has removed legal barriers that trap most of the province\u2019s 9,000 Crown wards in foster care with no hope of adoption.<\/p>\n

The legislative change, passed by MPPs unanimously Wednesday, will make more kids in the care of Children\u2019s Aid Societies eligible for adoption, said Children and Youth Minister Laurel Broten.<\/div>\n
\u201cThis important legislation opens the door to a forever family for thousands of waiting kids across this province and helps more prospective adoptive parents to build the families they have always dreamed of,\u201d she said.<\/div>\n

The Star highlighted the plight of Ontario\u2019s foster children in a series of articles last fall. The legal change was among the recommendations of the province\u2019s 2009 Expert Panel on Infertility and Adoption, which called on the province to double the number of adoptions of Crown wards within five years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re delighted as an expert panel to see this move and we\u2019re hopeful that the government will act on our other recommendations around (adoption) subsidies and supports before the end of its mandate,\u201d said Panel member William Falk.<\/div>\n
\u201cThe Star has been a really big part of making this happen,\u201d added Falk, who was in the Legislature Wednesday.<\/div>\n
Until now, two-thirds of Ontario\u2019s Crown wards were ineligible for adoption because of court orders legally preventing them from being adopted.<\/div>\n
Under the new law, these court orders, which set out the type of contact Crown wards have with their birth family, will be terminated when children are placed for adoption. In cases where some contact would be healthy for a child, courts could make \u201copenness\u201d orders.<\/div>\n
For youth who are not adopted, the new law provides more support as they move into adulthood. It will allow 16- or 17-year-olds who leave care to return to the system voluntarily and be eligible for financial support until age 21.<\/div>\n

New regulations will also make it easier for youth receiving financial support from Children\u2019s Aid to attend college and university by giving them access to larger student loans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis legislation will result in so many more children and youth having the opportunity to have a family to support them into adulthood,\u201d said Pat Convery, of the Adoption Council of Ontario, which provides public education and advocacy on adoption in the province.<\/div>\n
\u201cWe are especially excited about the increased support for older youth who have often been lost in the system and left without support at age 18,\u201d she said.<\/div>\n

Missing from the adoption reforms, however, was a provincial plan to provide subsidies to make it financially easier for parents to adopt older Crown wards who often have complex medical or social needs.<\/p>\n

Both Tory and NDP children\u2019s critics criticized the government on this point.<\/p>\n

Broten said she continues to work with the province\u2019s 53 Children\u2019s Aid Societies on the issue.<\/p>\n

Falk said legislation isn\u2019t needed to make the change and that the expert panel expects the government to act before next fall\u2019s election.<\/p>\n

The reforms date back to the Liberals\u2019 2007 election promise to appoint an expert panel to review adoption, he said.<\/div>\n
\u201cIf Dalton McGuinty is able to deliver on support and subsidies, then they can fairly check the box for having delivered on this piece,\u201d Falk added.<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: http:\/\/www.thestar.com Published On Wed Jun 1 2011 Laurie MonsebraatenSocial Justice Reporter Queen\u2019s Park has removed legal barriers that trap most of the province\u2019s 9,000 Crown wards in foster care with no hope of adoption. The legislative change, passed by MPPs unanimously Wednesday, will make more kids in the care of Children\u2019s Aid Societies eligible… Weiter »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2382"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2384,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382\/revisions\/2384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.againstchildtrafficking.org\/archive\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}