Family Forum / Parenting / Adoption / December 2007

Indeed <sigh>
The original bill was terrible and the amended version even worse.  No
equal rights, just crumbs for some.
Talk about buying into a bill of goods. "It's about time that Ontario
had adoption legislation that reflects the 'reality of our lives' "
The article below concentrates on medical history and completely
ignories the imperative of equal rights under the law.
(It seems that theone parent among the four challengers of the
original bill was a bfather, though of course unidentified. How come
anonymous people get to have such clout? Come to that, where's the
proof this person even is a bfather, if he's anonymous? And since when
did bfathers get promised anomynity anyways?)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071211.wontarioadopt11/BNSt
ory/National/

Ontario adoption law to be amended
New bill includes veto on release of personal information
CHINTA PUXLEY
The Canadian Press
December 11, 2007 at 4:58 AM EST
TORONTO -- Some adopted people in Ontario won't be able to get basic
information about their health history under amended legislation
introduced yesterday by the governing Liberals, advocates for adoptees
charged.

Minister of Community and Social Services Madeleine Meilleur took
another run at opening up past adoption records with new legislation,
which, if passed, would allow parents and adopted individuals to veto
the release of personal data.

The Adoption Information Disclosure Act, passed in 2005, had allowed
adopted people at the age of 18 to gain access to their adoption
orders and original birth certificate with the name of the birth
mother. As well, it allowed a birth parent to learn the name of a
child when heor she turned 19.

The law would have given retroactive access to tens of thousands of
files that had been sealed for decades.

The veto is the main difference between the new legislation and the
old law, which a Superior Court judge struck down in September.

"Anyone who chooses to use a disclosure veto would be asked to
voluntarily provide their medical history so that birth relatives may
be able to obtain personal health information," Ms. Meilleur said in
the legislature.

"Our government has long maintained that people who are involved with
an adoption should have the same ability as non-adopted people to
learn about their past and their family. Ontario has moved past the
days when adoptions were conducted in secret and were kept a secret as
the child grew up."

But the government can't force people to share vital health
information that could help save the life of an adopted child, said
Wendy Rowney, with the Coalition for Open Adoption Records.

Although adoption laws in British Columbia, Alberta and Newfoundland
include a disclosure veto, Ms. Rowney said it was "disappointing" that
Ontario has added one.

"We all know that disease is inherited," she said. "Disease doesn't
stop when you're adopted. What this is going to mean for a number of
adopted adults is they'll have no access to information about their
own health history."

The law would also work against birth families, said Karen Lynn,
president of the Canadian Council of Natural Mothers.

"Normally, the adopted people are the first children born in families,
so they're the first ones therefore to inherit a disease," Ms. Lynn
said. "Birth siblings will also be denied their medical information."

Former New Democrat member Marilyn Churley, who is largely credited
with persuading the government to adopt the bill, said the veto means
many won't find out about their health history until they face a
crisis.

"People who don't have updated health information will not be able to
get special screening for breast cancer and many genetic diseases that
we know about," said Ms. Churley, who spent years searching for a son
she gave up for adoption.

"It's too bad that we're not looking at the facts here and just going
with the emotion."

Despite the disclosure veto, many adoption activists say they are glad
the Liberals reintroduced the legislation so Ontario can catch up to
other provinces and jurisdictions around the world.

The amended bill is unlikely to pass before the legislature rises for
its winter break later this week, so the proposed legislation probably
won't be debated again until March.

Monica Byrne, an Ottawa mother who was reunited with her adopted
daughter 20 years ago, said it's about time that Ontario had adoption
legislation that reflects the "reality of our lives."

She hoped that people will think twice before using their veto.

"My life has not been destroyed by being found or finding my
daughter," she said. "It's okay. Life goes on."

Opposition critics say the Liberals ignored the protests of adoptive
families and legal experts when they passed the law opening up
records.

Under the old law, could keep information secret only if they could
prove to a review board that releasing it would cause significant
harm.

The law was challenged last year on behalf of three adoptees and one
parent who gave up a child.

Just shut up and suck your binkie, Robyn!

Marley