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Adoption

Agency Adoption - Families Known to the Birth Parents - Adoptive Parents

In Nova Scotia, all adoptions are either agency adoptions or private relative adoptions. Agency adoption is when a child is placed by a Children's Aid Society, a Family and Children's Services Agency, a District Office of the Department of Community Services, or an approved Child Placing Agency.

Once approved, adoptive families are placed on a waiting list to be matched with a child in an Agency's care. They may also become aware of a birth parent who wishes to place their child with them. These are called "Specified Adoptions" under Section 68A of the Children and Family Services Act. What follows are the steps for this adoption to take place.

The adoptive parents must contact the Agency in the area where they live to advise that they are aware of a birth parent who wishes to place her child with them for adoption.

The Agency will confirm that the birth parent has contacted the Agency in the area where she lives and told them she wishes to place her child with this family.

The family must be approved to adopt this child. The Agency will assist the family to have an adoption homestudy completed by a person authorized by the Department of Community Services on a private basis.

The family is responsible to pay for a processing fee for their application to begin the process and a fee for services to complete the homestudy.

The birth parent must meet with a social worker in the Agency in the area where she lives to discuss her plan along with other options to ensure she is making an informed decision.
At that time she is also asked to complete a social and medical history which will be important in planning for the placement and for the child in the future.

The authorized person completing the homestudy will be provided with a copy of the social and medical history provided by the birth parent by the Agency to assist the family and the person doing the homestudy to assess the match between the child and the family. When the authorized person completes the homestudy, it is forwarded to the Agency for final decision on the approval.

Once the family is approved to adopt the child and the birth parent has agreed to the adoption, the child will be placed by the Agency in the home with the adoptive family.

The Child's Placement
The child cannot live with the prospective adoptive family until the adoption homestudy and placement is approved and the consents to the adoption are signed. The adoptive parents and the birth parents should agree on a plan for the child in the interim period. The child may remain with the birth parent or her family, or in the home of family or friends of the prospective adoptive parents that have been first approved by the Agency or be placed in an approved foster home. Contact between the child, the birth parent, and the family during this time should be worked out between each other and the Agency.

Birth Father
Birth fathers may be involved in the decision to place their child for adoption along with the birth mother. If the birth father is involved, they both need to agree on the plan or it cannot go forward. Agency workers are available to provide counseling to birth fathers if they wish and are required to meet with him if he is required by law to consent to the adoption.

Legal Adoption Process
Once the child is placed with the approved adoptive family by the Agency with the birth parent's consent, the adoption may go to court to be finalized in six months. The Agency will visit the family during the six month period and make final recommendation for the adoption. The prospective adoptive parents will need to hire their own lawyer to take the matter to court to obtain the adoption order.

This summary is intended to give a brief overview of the process. If you have questions, contact your local Children's Services Agency and ask for an adoption worker.