Liberal Party of Ontario rebuffs participation

February 3, 2002 permalink

On February 2, 2002 the Liberal Party of Ontario held a policy conference at the Oakville Conference Centre. The following item was on the agenda:

L2. Adoption Reform

Whereas Children's Aid Societies are non-governmental agencies that are governed at the local level; and

Whereas there is no central registry or matching system for children available for adoption and families interested in adopting; and Whereas the families interested in adopting may only apply in their local area and are only allowed access to local children; and

Whereas in most CASs due to limited funding, a `home study' is not conducted until a child is available locally for adoption; and

Whereas there is an increasing emphasis on removing children from troubled homes but no equivalent increase in the ability of the system to find adoptive homes; and

Whereas there is a one-year limit for a child under the age of 6 to be in temporary protective custody, but nothing happens when the deadline is not met; and

Whereas 75% of children in care are not eligible for adoption due to a court-ordered access for the birth family and a law that disallows adoption where an access order is in place; and

Whereas a `special needs' tag is needlessly applied to most children in protective CAS custody (rather than cataloguing the specific needs and factors), thus hindering their adoptability; and

Whereas it is to the benefit of the child in care to be adopted at the youngest possible age (and thereby not be a ward of the state for an extended period of time); therefore

BE IT RESOLVED that the Ontario Liberal Party promote while in Opposition and implement when in Government:

1. A comprehensive review of the Children's Aid Society system to determine new province-wide policies and procedures that will allow the speedy adoption of Ontario's children in care.

2. The development of a centralized adoption registry to allow effective matching of children in care to Ontario families who are willing to provide stable adoptive homes.

Dufferin VOCA wished to report its actual experience with Children's Aid. We found the statement that Children's Aid Societies are governed at the local level to be particularly outrageous, in view of our experiences in Dufferin. A request through a friend to participate in the conference produced the response:

On the agenda are only the resolutions which I e-mailed you last Saturday. The themes of the conference are limited to education, agriculture, rural and local issues. Anyone, who does not have delegate status can not speak or vote on any of the resolutions.

I checked with OLP today: it is possible to attend as an "observer". However this would cost the individual $300. This, of course, would be tax receiptable.

So the OLP has lost an opportunity to listen to community experience, and has adopted a resolution representing only the agenda of social workers.