Child welfare

When kids experience racism, what can their parents do? Here are some resources and tips from an experienced adoptive parent.

Editor’s note: Some of these tips are aimed specifically at white parents. AFABC recognizes that adoptive families are incredibly diverse, and that transracial adoptive families include parents from all backgrounds, heritages, and experiences, including parents of colour who have firsthand experience with racism.

Focus on Adoption and AFABC have always sought to centre adoptee voices and perspectives, but the #FlipTheScript campaign (launched during Adoption Awareness Month in 2014) inspired us to launch a regular column called "Adopted Voice." The series ran from 2015 to 2016.

In ongoing this series, we interview experts about your key questions about adoption.

Are you an expert wanting to lend your knowledge to our families? Email us at editor@bcadoption.com.

Here are some of the articles from our long-running Diary of an Adoptive Mom series. This adoptive mother shares her experiences and secret thoughts of raising three children. This series ran from 2006 to 2010.

Note: Diary entries #1 to #7 are unavailable 

People with FASD struggle with lifelong behaviour and learning problems. In this article, one young adoptee shares her story of life with FASD. All names have been changed.

The Adoptive Families Association of BC is proud to be one of the partner sites for the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption’s signature program, Wendy’s Wonderful Kids. In this article, Rita Soronen, the Foundation’s president & CEO, explains the program’s evidence-based and highly successful approach to finding families for some of North America’s children and youth who wait the longest.

This is an updated version of an article that originally appeared in Focus on Adoption several years ago. It explains parental benefits in Canada and why adoptive families currently don’t qualify for maternity leave.

In Canada, biological parents are entitled to a longer parental leave than adoptive parents, kin caregivers, and customary caregivers. But research shows adopted children need more time to attach. Time to Attach is a research and advocacy campaign lobbying for 15 more weeks of attachment leave for families formed through adoption, kinship, or customary care arrangements. In this article, two researchers explain the basis for the campaign and how we can bring about change together.

Last year, the Ministry of Children and Family Development transitioned to an online adoption application process called Adopt BC Kids. To access the new system, prospective adoptive parents must sign up for a special type of identification called a BC Electronic ID (BCeID). A BCeID provides secure access to online government services like Adopt BC Kids. Here’s what you need to do to get one.

In 2017, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption released a ground-breaking new study of Canadian attitudes and behaviours towards adoption and foster care. The comprehensive document is packed with research and insights, but since it’s also almost 80 pages long, we’ve put together this brief overview of its key findings.