Information For Potential Adoptive Applicants

1. Definition of Adoption

Adoption is "the means of meeting the developmental needs of a child by legally transferring ongoing parental responsibilities for that child from birth parents to adoptive parents, recognizing that in the process we have created a new kinship network that forever links those two families through the child that is shared by both. This kinship network may also include significant other foster families, both formal and informal, that have been a part of the child's experience." Adoption, then, is both a legal and relational process. Quoted from Ken Watson

2. Adoption in Ontario - A Brief Overview

The Child and Family Services Act, R.S.O., 1990, as amended, is the current Ontario legislation which governs adoption in both the public and private sectors. All adoptions transpiring in Ontario must adhere to the Act.

There are public and private adoptions in Ontario. Public adoptions are those done through Family and Children's Services (FACS)/Children's Aid Societies (CAS). The Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services (MCYS) oversees private adoptions. In Ontario, private adoption agencies, adoption lawyers and adoption social workers that have been licensed to do adoptions by the MCYS can facilitate private adoptions. Jewels For Jesus is a licensed private adoption agency.

The MCYS requires that all adoptive applicants have a homestudy completed by an adoption practitioner approved by the Ministry. A list of practitioners can be gained through the Ministry office or their website www.children.gov.on.ca. Your adoption practitioner will remain an important support throughout the adoption process. It is, therefore, suggested that a couple interviews adoption practitioners in their area, and determines whom they would wish to contract.

Adopting a Newborn Child

When the baby to be adopted is a minimum of eight days old, the birth parents must sign "Form 34F: Parent's or Custodian's Consent to Adoption" in order for the baby to be legally placed for adoption. Under Ontario law, the birth parents then have a 21-day rescindment period before the consents are considered valid. Should they withdraw their consent during this period, the child would be returned to them. Once the rescindment period has expired, the rights and responsibilities of the birth parents are transferred to the adoption agency pending a final adoption order.

The first six months following placement are known as the adoption probation period. During this time, your adoption practitioner will supervise the placement of the child in the home, and report progress or problems concerning the child to the Agency. At the completion of this period, she/he will prepare a "Report on the Adjustment of the Child in the Home" which will be submitted to the Ministry of Children and Youth Services for their approval. At that point, the Agency, on the adoptive couple's behalf, files the application for an adoption order with the Court. This usually occurs eight to ten months following placement. Once the adoption order has been granted, it is irrevocable.

Adopting an Older Child or Sibling Group

The adoption of an older child or sibling group will follow the same legal steps as a newborn placement, with the main difference being the amount of time and number of assessment steps taken to ensure a successful placement.

For further information on adoption in Ontario, see How to Adopt a Child on the Ministry of Children and Youth Services website.

3. Adoption through Jewels For Jesus - Who are We?

Jewels For Jesus Adoption Agency Inc. is a non-profit, charitable organization. We have been involved in adoption since 1958, and became licensed as a Private Adoption Agency by the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services in March 1986. We work exclusively in the Province of Ontario. We are a Christian agency, committed to honouring a birth parent's request that their child be placed with a Christian family, and to assisting Christian families in building their family through adoption.

Jewels For Jesus Adoption Agency works hand-in-hand with Jewels For Jesus Mission Inc. The Mission is a pro-life, evangelical, non-profit, charitable organization founded in 1948, which today is committed to assisting women experiencing an unplanned or crisis pregnancy, as well as assisting families who are struggling with raising their children.

The Mission provides a variety of services to support birth parents as they plan for the arrival of their child(ren). We provide: 1) assistance in examining all life options, 2) assistance in building an effective parenting plan, 3) adoption information, 4) encouraging abortion-minded birth mothers to consider all their life options, 5) post-abortion counseling 6) care cupboard resources, and 7) referrals to other community supports.

The same Board of Directors governs both Jewels For Jesus Mission and Jewels For Jesus Adoption Agency. The volunteer Board is made up of Christian businessmen and women, many of whom are adoptive parents themselves.

Jewels For Jesus Mission and Adoption Agency are committed to prayerfully supporting and caring for all clients - birth parents and their families, adoptive applicants and their families, and adoptees.

4. What Type of Child Do We Place for Adoption?

We work exclusively with birth parents who are making a voluntary adoption plan, providing support and education to them and their families. In about 80% of these cases the client is choosing adoption before the birth of her child, resulting in newborn placements. About 20% of our placements are infants or older children. In these cases, birth parents who are unable to cope any longer with the demands of parenting will approach us for assistance in placing their infant or older child for adoption. The majority of these children are infants, but we have occasionally facilitated placements of pre-school-aged children as well.

The newborns, infants and children we place come from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds, and medical histories. Birth parents may be in or have completed high school or university, or they may be living on the streets or in an institution. We seek to obtain as much social and medical information on birth parents as possible to ensure that the adoptive parents and the adoptee are fully aware of the child's background. As adoptive applicants, you will be asked to complete a "Profile of a Child/Children You May Consider" form to ensure that you are only presented for placements that fall within your comfort/experience level.

5. How Long is the Wait for a Child?

Once your application is processed and you are active* with our Agency, you could be contacted about a child at any time. We want you to be aware that, in keeping with the Ministry of Children and Youth Services' requirements, we always consider the best interest of the child and honour the requests of birth parents regarding the type of family their child will be placed with.

Should you match the particular birth parents' requests, and the medical and social history is within your comfort range, your profile will be presented to the birth parents along with other profiles that are also a match. The birth parents make the final decision with regards to the family that they wish to place their child with. In view of this, there is no guarantee that any couple will receive a child through our Agency.

We do make every effort to ensure that your profile is presented as often as possible. Our active list is limited to a ratio of four-to-one: four adoptive applicants for every adoption placement in the previous year. This allows us an adequate pool to draw from for our birth parents' selection, while ensuring that adoptive couples are given many opportunities for presentation. Jewels For Jesus Adoption Agency also encourages adoptive applicants to register with other licensees and adoption agencies (both public and private) if they wish.

(*Active: the adoptive applicants' paperwork is complete and they are ready to be considered for a potential adoption.)

6. What Services are Provided by Jewels for Jesus Adoption Agency?

For birth parents: Jewels For Jesus offers adoption services and emotional support both pre and post birth.
For adoptive applicants:
- Jewels For Jesus is available to be a resource/support to adoptive applicants as they move toward an adoption placement.
- At the end of the probation period we prepare the adoption application paperwork and file it with the Court.
For families who have adopted: Jewels For Jesus is available to be a resource to adoptive parents as they parent adopted children, also to support in any ongoing relationship and/or contact with the birth family.
For those adopted: Jewels For Jesus will serve as a resource to adoptees, where questions about their own adoption and adoption related issues can be addressed.

7. What Services are Provided by Your Adoption Practitioner?

Your practitioner remains an important support throughout the adoption process.

Homestudy: Your practitioner will conduct a number of sessions with you and your spouse. These sessions are designed to educate you in adoption related issues, assess your readiness to adopt and prepare you for the adoption process. At the conclusion, your practitioner will prepare a written homestudy.
Recommendation of the Proposed Match: When a match is proposed, your practitioner will review social and medical information, gleaned from the birth parents, with you; assist you in your decisions surrounding the proposed match; prepare and support you in meeting with the birth parents. They will also prepare a written recommendation of the proposed match for the Agency.
Supervision of the Child in the Home: Following the placement of the child in your home your practitioner will oversee the supervision of the child in the home and will prepare a written report for the Agency.

8. What does Adoption Work with Birth Parents Involve?

When a birth mother or birth parents are planning adoption for her/their unborn child or an older child, a Jewels For Jesus Birth Parent Worker will meet with her/them for about six sessions prior to the birth of the child and three to six sessions post-placement. These sessions focus on:

Explaining adoption in Ontario as well as other options available to birth parents.
Re-evaluating all the life options available to the birth parent(s).
Collecting extensive social and medical histories on the birth parent(s), the child, and extended families.
Determining the type of adoption the birth parent(s) are seeking, i.e., open or semi-open (see #9 for definition).
Collecting a list of preferences for an adoptive family.
Education regarding "grief" and how it relates to the adoption plan.
Completing adoption related paperwork and forms required by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services.
Providing post-adoption grief support.

9. What about Contact with the Birth Parents?

As we begin working with birth parents around their adoption plan, we explore the level of contact they wish to have with the adopting family and we provide education on the benefits of open adoption. At present, the majority of adoptions through Jewels For Jesus are open adoptions. This is the case with most private, domestic adoptions. Open adoption means that the birth parents and adopting parents have the opportunity for direct contact with each other.

More and more birth and adopting families are recognizing the value of a fully open adoption. Fuelling this realization are long-term studies highlighting the importance of an adoptee's need for biological information and connection. Adoptive families have found that remaining in contact with their child's birth family has given them an important tool in the parenting of their adoptive child.

The type of contact or communication can vary greatly and often includes meetings prior to the child's birth, being at the hospital together, exchanging letters and pictures, and visiting on a regular basis. In essence, the birth and adopting parents will begin to develop a relationship which will be nurtured in these various ways, always considering what is in the best interest of the child.

An adoption can also be semi-open or even closed. A closed adoption is a fully confidential adoption, i.e., the identity of the parties in the adoption is not known to each other and there is no contact between birth parents and the adoptive family. In Ontario today, these types of adoptions are rarely found in private adoptions. FACS/CAS facilitates this type of adoption when it is in the best interest of the child that contact with the birth parent(s) be discontinued.

Jewels For Jesus Adoption Agency respects the wishes of the birth parent(s) and adoptive applicants with regard to the type of adoption they would be most comfortable with. To ensure that all parties in the adoption make an informed and realistic decision with regards to future contact in their adoption, education is a critical part of the work done with both birth and adopting parents.

10. What does an Adoption Cost through Jewels For Jesus?

The application fee and interview fee are intended to cover the considerable time and incidental costs that are incurred on behalf of adoptive applicants as they proceed through the application process, as well as during the time that can elapse between application and placement. Once you have become active with Jewels For Jesus there will be no fees charged to you until you have been selected for a placement.

When a couple is chosen by a birth parent, they are notified and, if they accept the potential placement, a retainer is payable. If the placement does not occur $5,000 is retained to offset the costs incurred by the licensee. In addition, Adoption Practitioner fees are deducted from the retainer. The remainder of the retainer will be refunded.

Each completed adoption is billed according to the costs incurred in facilitating that particular placement. An average adoption through Jewels For Jesus Adoption Agency will cost $10,000 - $18,000. See adoption fee schedule for a more specific breakdown.

11. What is the Process of Application through Jewels For Jesus?

If, after reading this information carefully, you would like to make application to Jewels For Jesus Adoption Agency, sign the "Acknowledgement and Request for an Application for the Placement of a Child for Adoption" (click here). Return it and the $150.00 application fee, and we will send the application package to you. Please keep this information package as a reference source.

Upon receipt of your Acknowledgement and the application fee, the assessment process with Jewels For Jesus Adoption Agency Inc. will commence, and it will proceed as follows:

You will be sent an application package, including guidelines for creating a photo profile for presentation to birth parents.
A couple interview will be arranged.
Once you have completed your interview and all your paperwork is in order, you will receive official notification of your status with our agency.

12. Are We the Best Match for You?

Applications will be accepted from Ontario couples with an approved homestudy. However, we want you to be aware of the fact that the majority of our work is with couples who have been married for at least two years and who are evangelical Christians. We review all applications on an individual basis.

Should you have questions that have not been addressed in this information pack, please feel free to contact Helen Hancock at our office by phone at 905-821-7494 or by email at helpline@JewelsForJesus.net. God bless you as you consider building your family through adoption.