This policy directive is issued under s. 42 of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017 (CYFSA) to direct children’s aid societies (societies) to register children on the AdoptOntario website in accordance with the criteria and requirements set out in this directive.

 

 

This directive will support more children to achieve permanency through adoption by expanding opportunities for children to be matched with prospective parents who are approved for adoption across the province.

Effective date

This policy directive will come into effect on October 1, 2021. To provide societies with a transition period to meet the requirements of this directive, societies will have until July 1, 2022 to register all children covered by this directive on AdoptOntario’s Adoption Resources Databank (“the Databank”).

Introduction

A key goal of the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services (the ministry) is to achieve better outcomes for children in extended society care through increased permanency for children, including enabling more children to be adopted. Adoption may not be appropriate for every child in extended society care (e.g., not in the best interests of the child; adoption may not be considered a culturally appropriate option for First Nations, Inuit and Métis children).

The ministry has implemented a number of supports for adoption, including AdoptOntario, a province-wide web-based registry to help societies match children available for adoption with Ontario residents who are approved to adopt. Since 2006, the ministry has funded the Adoption Council of Ontario (ACO) to manage the AdoptOntario website to respond to the need identified by the adoption community for a provincial database to help find appropriate prospective adoptive parents for children available for adoption across the province.

The AdoptOntario website consists of two parts: a public site and a secure, password protected site accessible to only approved children’s aid society (society) staff and private adoption practitioners. The professional site includes the Databank, the key matching tool, which uses over 120 criteria to match prospective parents who are approved for adoption with children available for adoption. Prospective parents who are approved for adoption are individuals who have completed the caregiver assessment and pre-service training required by the ministry and have been approved by their local society for adoption. The Databank can help societies identify a prospective parent who is approved for adoption within their region to support local placement as a first option, and also in another society’s jurisdiction, while concurrent permanency planning is occurring.

On July 29, 2020, the government announced the Strategy to Redesign the Child Welfare System, which includes a plan to modernize the adoption system. A key component of modernizing the adoption system is to improve matching of children with prospective adoptive parents who are approved for adoption by enhancing the capacity of the AdoptOntario website and requiring societies to register children in extended society care who are available for adoption, where appropriate, on the website.

The intent of this policy directive is to direct societies to register children in extended society care on the Databank in accordance with the criteria and requirements set out in this directive, and to work with Adoption Council of Ontario to develop adoption matching plans and profiles for these children. These requirements are intended to provide more opportunities for children in extended society care to find permanent homes through adoption in cases where adoption is an appropriate permanency option for them.

This directive does not prevent societies from finding adoption placements for children within their local communities, including working with Wendy’s Wonderful Kids adoption recruiters while the child is registered on the Databank, or from facilitating openness (orders or agreements) to support connections with the child’s family of origin or continuation of a relationship with a person that is beneficial or meaningful to the child. The AdoptOntario website has functionalities (e.g., the ability to specify geographic limits for potential matches) to help societies find adoption placements outside of their immediate jurisdiction but within certain geographic limits as appropriate for the child to support continuity of community connections and any openness agreements or orders.

Requirements

  1. Registration and profiling of children on the Databank
    1. Societies are required to register children in extended society care on the Databank, where all of the following criteria are met:
      1. The society has confirmed and documented that the child is not a First Nations, Inuit or Métis child, as defined in section 1 of Ontario Regulation 155/18 under the CYFSA and as identified by the court as required by section 90 (1).
      2. The society has not placed the child in a foster-to-adopt or kinship placement where a plan for permanency (e.g., adoption, legal custody) in that placement is being considered by the society.
      3. The society has not found an adoption match or adoption placement for the child within 90 days of beginning adoption planning for the child.
      4. The society has sought and obtained the child’s consent to being registered and profiled on the Databank, unless the child is not capable of providing consent. Consent requirements are outlined below.
    2. For children who are to be registered based on the requirements set out above, societies will work with the Adoption Council of Ontario to develop an adoption matching plan and create a profile that meets the needs of the child with the child’s consent, except in circumstances where the child cannot provide consent and the society provides consent on their behalf, in the child’s best interests.
    3. Societies must review and update the child’s profile at least once every six months. The society must seek consent from the child, where the child is capable of providing consent, to the updated information.
  2. Consent of children
    1. Children are presumed capable of providing consent to being registered and profiled on the Databank, unless there are reasonable grounds to believe they do not have the capacity to understand and appreciate the nature of the consent and the consequences of giving, withholding or providing the consent, in accordance with s. 21(1) of the CYFSA. In cases where a child is capable of providing consent to be registered and profiled, societies must have age appropriate conversations with the child in order to:
      1. provide information about the AdoptOntario website.
      2. ensure the child has read or had their profile read to them.
      3. advise the child of the consequences of giving and not giving consent to registering and posting the profile on the Databank.
      4. advise the child that they have the choice to consent or not consent, and provide them with an opportunity to seek independent advice elsewhere if they wish.
      5. advise the child that they may withdraw their consent at any time and how they would do so.
      6. ensure that the child has provided verbal or written consent. The society must document consent.
    2. If the child is not capable of providing consent, the society will consent on behalf of the child, if it is in the child’s best interests, in accordance with s. 74(3) of the CYFSA. The society must document their rationale for providing consent on behalf of the child and how it is in the child’s best interests.
  3. Registration of prospective parents who are approved for adoption on the Databank
    1. Societies are required to provide prospective parents who are approved for adoption with information on how to register on the Databank and how to create their own profiles within 90 days of the parents becoming approved for adoption if they have not been matched with a child or had a child placed in their home for adoption. Prospective parents who are approved for adoption may register themselves on the Databank or the society may register them.
    2. For prospective parents who register themselves on the Databank, societies arerequired to approve their registration on the website within 45 days.
  4. Training and capacity building
    1. Societies are required to ensure that relevant staff are knowledgeable about therequirements in this directive and complete training on the use of the Databankprovided by the Adoption Council of Ontario.
  5. Reporting
    1. Societies are required to confirm in writing to the ministry that it has implementedthe requirements in this directive by July 1, 2022.

Issuance of Policy directive CW 006-21: September 28, 2021


Original signed by:

David Remington
Assistant Deputy Minister
Child Welfare and Protection Division
Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services