FACTS ON FOSTER CARE AND ADOPTION IN CANADA

· According to Human Resources Development Canada, in 1999 approximately 48,000 Canadian children were in long-term foster, or other government-provided care. Approximately one-third of them had little or no prospect of returning home.

· In one 1998 investigation into child protection in Canada, approximately 60% of children who turned 18 while in care were estimated not to graduate from high school; 34-40% to receive welfare; and 25% to live on the streets.(1)

· In 1981, 5,376 Canadian-born children were adopted out of care.(2) A report by the Federal/Provincial Working Group in Child and Family Services Information showed that in 1998/99, Canadian-born children adopted out of care numbered only 2,450.

· A 1997 Simon Fraser University study on Rumanian orphans found that, on average, the younger children are adopted out of institutionalized care, the better the outcomes: "On the whole … [the earlier adopted] children … in spite of a bad start in life have improved rapidly and are now doing well."

· A 1993 study on adoption in Canada, the National Adoption Study, reported that parents seeking to adopt through a private adoption agency wait an average of 20-21 months, while those wishing to adopt a newborn infant through government-run adoption agencies wait an average of almost 6 years.

SOURCES:

1. Webber, M. (1998). As If Kidds Mattered: What's Wrong in the World of Child Protection and Adoption. Toronto, Ontario. Key Porter Books.

2. Health and Welfare Canada. (1993). Adoption in Canada: Final Report. Ottawa, Ontario. Daly, K.T., & Sobol, M.P.

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