Wildrose leader Brian Jean announced his party’s intention to introduce a private members bill Nov. 18 to modernize the adoption process in the spring sitting of the legislature.
“Adoption helps to create strong communities, and should be a rewarding experience for both the birth family and the adoptive family,” said Jean in a press release.
The announcement comes during adoption awareness month and was made at the Chestermere Montessori Preschool Academy and was joined in the announcement by local Wildrose MLA Leela Aheer, Wildrose MLA for Olds-Didisbury- Three Hills Nathan Cooper and adoption advocate Judith Kustermans.
The Wildrose plan to base the bill around three recommendations for changes to the current adoption process.
The recommendations include updating legislation reflect the prevalence of modern technology, the implementation of mandatory visits by adoption professionals for all adoptive families and changes to postnatal services to provide better access to adoption information.
“The recommendations we are proposing remove barriers and make the system as accommodating as possible for all involved, which would make a positive impact on the adoption process,” said Jean in the release.
MLA Cooper is an adoptive parent and is working with Aheer to develop the bill.
“While we are making a number of recommendations today they…in no way…address all of the issues surrounding adoption in Alberta,” he said.
From his experience with the adoption system Cooper realizes it can be a cumbersome process and may discourage some families from pursuing their adoption in Alberta and believes should the private members bill pass that the process will become significantly easier for prospective clients of the system.
The first recommendation is to update the legislation relating to adoption advertising.
The current legislation was passed 30 years ago predating social media and other modern forms of communication and advertising.
“Currently in Alberta, Albertans are unable to post adoptive profiles of themselves online,” said Cooper.
The change the Wildrose is proposing would allow parents to post and share their stories online and raise funds through crowdsourcing sites to cover the costs of adoption. This change would bring Alberta’s legislation in line with other provinces.
The second proposed change is to legislate mandatory visits by an adoption professional for private placement adoptions.
“We want to ensure adoptive families are equipped with the right tools to start off their adoption on the right foot,” said Cooper.
The final recommendation aims to improve access to information about adoption and reduce the stigma of seeking out that information.
Under current legislation, Child and Family Services are required to open an official file when a birth parent asks for information about adoption services.
The Wildrose is looking to make access to information about adoption easier.
“It is vitally important that all front-line workers including those in the department are well trained on adoption services,” said Cooper.
“All involved in adoption need to work together to improve access, communication between agencies and the department,” he said.
Cooper’s hope is that the NDP government will pass this private members bill when it is presented in the spring making adoption easier for both prospective parents and birth parents.
The bill will be introduced by Aheer in the next legislative session.
