Jun. 7, 2005. 06:44 AM
KERRY GILLESPIERobert and his mother, Fiona Sharp, were on hand yesterday to hear Children and Youth Services Minister Marie Bountrogianni announce legislation to reform the system that prevents most of Ontario's 9,000 crown wards from ever being adopted.
Children who are still in contact with their birth families, or have court orders allowing contact, would for the first time become eligible for adoption, under the proposed rule changes.
"We need to help more children find a permanent, caring home by making adoption more flexible for children and friendlier for parents," Bountrogianni said.
"The current system is too rigid," she said.
Other proposed changes include:
*Post-adoption government funding will be available to pay for special needs, such as physiotherapy or counselling.
*A province-wide standardized application and screening process will be implemented.
Ontario has 9,000 Crown wards — children whose parents are unable or unwilling to care for them. But more than 6,700 of them are ineligible for adoption because their birth family has a court-ordered right to contact.
Even though almost two out of three birth families with this right do not exercise it, the rules require cutting all ties to a birth family before an adoption can proceed.
This is the single largest barrier to adoption, said Mary McConville, executive director of the Catholic Children's Aid Society of Toronto.
Last year, 882 Ontario Crown wards — less than 10 per cent of the total — were adopted.
Many children in the care of a children's aid society have been abused or suffered at the hands of parents with drug and alcohol addictions. The foster and group home system adds to that trauma by moving them to a new home roughly every two years. The proposed changes are "fantastic" said McConville, adding that they will reduce the number of kids forced to grow up in state care.
Robert Sharp told reporters yesterday that his adoptive parents "have given me a great life, good education and brighter future than what I would have had with my previous parents." Bountrogianni said that across Ontario, "there are thousands of children who need a permanent family and there are a great many families who want to bring a child into their lives. We're helping bring them together."
This is the second recent move by the government to reform adoption laws. Under adoption disclosure legislation, which could be passed this week, adult adoptees and birth parents would be allowed to access their sealed files.
Last week, the province bowed to pressure from birth parents who don't want their identities revealed. Yesterday, in committee, they added a measure that would allow adoptive children to withhold their names.
But the veto will apply in extreme cases only, such as those involving sexual abuse.
Additional articles by Kerry Gillespie