November is Adoption Awareness Month
This month, we raise awareness on how adoption can provide permanent, life-long relationships for children and youth in care. It is also a time for us to learn more about adoption services at CCAS and across the province.
What's new in Ontario?
As part of child welfare redesign, there has been significant adoption initiatives in Ontario this past year. Through the Adoption Council of Ontario, a new Centralized Adoption Intake Service, including a website, was launched in April 2022. It is aimed to help improve the adoption service experience for prospective adoptive parents who often do not know where to start as they begin their adoption journey including what type of adoption is a good fit for their family (Public, Private or Intercountry). Centralized Adoption Intake is an adoption information service that will provide a single access point for prospective adoptive parents who are not yet currently involved with child welfare and wellbeing agencies.
A second major initiative was launched with regards to a new policy directive issued under s.42 of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017 (CYFSA) which directs Children’s Aid Societies to register children on the AdoptOntario website in accordance with the requirements that are set out in the directive. Implementation of the directive aims to achieve permanency for more children through adoption by expanding opportunities for children to be matched with prospective parents who are approved for adoption across the province.
To learn more about the adoption process in Ontario, visit the Central Adoption Intake Service via the Adoption Council of Ontario at www.adoption.on.ca. For more about how the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, through child welfare redesign, is prioritizing stability and permanency for children and youth across the province, click here.
Here @ CCAS
Finding the right match with a family can be one of the most important changes in the life of a child or youth who receives services from our agency. Here is some interesting demographic information about the 20 children and youth whose adoptions were finalized through CCAS in our last fiscal year:
- 13 identified as male
- 7 identified as female
- 5 of the youth were 17 years old
- The youngest child was 2 years old
- The average age at finalization was 11.35 years
- There were 5 sets of siblings
- 16 of the children and youth had some form of Openness with their first families
- 5 of the young people were Black
- 13 of the young people were White
- 2 of the young people were Biracial (Black and White)
We are very fortunate at CCAS to have an experienced and dedicated team of adoption staff who diligently search for and support the best possible families to meet the needs of children and youth whose permanency plan is adoption.
