The Manitoba Legislature opens today (November 30, 2009). Will there be an announcement that the adoption law will be opened for changes? NOTHING!!!
A legislative review was done in 1997 and is contained in the Report of the Child and Family Services Act Review Committee on the Community Consultation Process compiled by Helen Zuefle. Quote: With respect to the issue of opening of past adoption records, the two views of the Committee members are: a) After a suitable notification process to allow for the filing of a veto all past adoption records should be opened. or b) The confidentiality of existing adoption records should be maintained at the time of announcing the new adoption legislation, there should be public notification that existing records remain intact. Unquote
The goverment at that time decided to go with b) and continue their discriminatory policy of sealed records.
Why is it necessary to do another review? The results are in the Zuefle report. LINKS is kept on-going through the donated time, effort, love, and caring of its members.
is a volunteer, non-profit organization, offering support for all members of the triad i.e. adoptee, birthparent, and adoptive parent by providing a free registry and a search service for a minimal fee. We also provide support for grandparents and other relatives who have had family separated by adoption. They are unable to obtain any support or assistance from the Post Adoption Registry of Manitoba so we will include them in our free registry and also offer our search service.
Our goals are: Support - Education - Informing the public - Promoting legislative changes in attitudes, policies, and adoption legislation. This includes working to change the current system of sealed adoption records in Manitoba.
To see a summary of the adoption laws in Canada click here
Open adoption records have always been available in Norway, Israel, Finland, Mexico, France, and Saudi Arabia. Since 1930 the following countries opened their birth certificate records retroactively to adoptees and birthparents: Scotland, Russia, England, Sweden, Argentina, Germany, Taiwan, Poland, Argentina, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, South Korea, Brazil, The Netherlands, New Zealand (1985), and Australia (1994). Open adoption records, available retroactively, for adoptees only are available in the U.S. in the states of (never were sealed) Alaska and Kansas, (after 1998) Alabama, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon, Tennessee and Colorado. An article in the Winnipeg Free Press August 8, 2008 mentioned that the Adoption Act, the Child and Family Services Act and the Authorities Act will be rewritten and may be amalgamated into one Act, and that this would be a 2-3 year project. We have been hearing this for the past 3 years. The Post Adoption portion of the Adoption Act can and should be ammended now. Because of all the problems the government is experiencing with other areas of child care, adult adoptees are having to wait in line for something that should have been done years ago.
We were advised that discussion on changes to the Adoption Act would begin in late 2004 and completed in 2006. It is now December 2009 and we understand that the wheels are in motion to determine how and when the Act may be ammended. By the looks of it I am sure nothing is going to happen before late 2010.
To view an update (December 2009) on the status of any changes to The Adoption Act visit my blog at 
